Microsoft has launched a Cybersecurity Engagement Center in Mexico City, promising to protect Mexican firms from cyber attacks.

Dismantling criminal organizations that operate through Botnet schemes will be the primary aim of the center, said the global computing giant, adding that it is going to invest its both technological know-how and experience to help the region deal with the cybercrime.

Equipped with the technology that detects online threats before they cause trouble, the center will also act as regional headquarters for IT security training. More than anything else, the center will bring together cybersecurity experts throughout Latin America to work alongside Microsoft specialists in order to fight cybercrime as a team.

The Mexican center will provide local clients with intelligence, data analysis, avant-garde forensics and legal strategies, according to Jean-Philippe Courtois, executive vice president of Microsoft.

The Silicon Valley firm has recently vowed to invest over $1 billion annually on cyber security research and development in the coming years. Over the past two years, the company has acquired three IT security firms and integrated their technology into its cloud service Azure Information Protection.

“We are offering our clients protection from attacks and security risks, as well as ways to detect them and find solutions,” explained Jorge Silva, general manager of Microsoft Mexico, adding that cyber threats harm economic prosperity.

The Mexican center will work together with Microsoft’s Cybercrime Center in Redmond, Washington.

The US firm has also signed a deal with Mexico’s federal police, agreeing to participate in a government security program that will promote technological research as a means to boost IT security.