Equifax announced that it is the first consumer reporting agency to achieve a Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) ‘Ready for Agency Authorization,’ a designation enabled by the $1.5 billion Equifax technology and security transformation. The newly-listed Equifax Government Data Exchange system is an Application Programming Interface (API)-based delivery channel that enables secure access to real-time income and employment verification services from The Work Number®. With the ‘Ready for Agency Authorization,’ the Equifax Government Data Exchange is the first offering to include an income and employment verification solution that meets FedRAMP standards for inclusion on the FedRAMP Marketplace. Equifax expects this to be the first of many Equifax products that will ultimately be made available to U.S. Government customers through the FedRAMP Marketplace.
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FedRAMP is a U.S. government program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services. Achieving FedRAMP Ready status indicates that Equifax delivers the security and enterprise-level capabilities required for commercial cloud service offerings. The approval of the Equifax Government Data Exchange system follows a third-party audit and preparation of a Readiness Assessment Report (RAR) that was performed by a FedRAMP third-party assessment (3PAO) organization.
“Achieving the FedRAMP Ready milestone is a testament to the engineering excellence of the Equifax CloudTM, our unique implementation of a public cloud infrastructure designed to meet the needs of our highly regulated data environment,” said Bryson Koehler, Chief Product, Data, Analytics & Technology Officer at Equifax. “Our global data fabric securely unifies more than 100 data silos into a single platform that delivers smarter insights at a greater velocity than ever before. That scale and integration is how the Equifax Cloud has moved us far beyond the scope of a consumer reporting agency and enabled us to respond to the needs of customers across industries in new ways. As government agencies continue to expand their use of data and analytics in the cloud, we’re providing a secure, fully-managed FedRAMP-ready environment.”
Federal government agencies rely on The Work Number® database to deliver seamless, instant verifications of income and employment information in support of social service benefit decisions. In 2021, The Work Number service fulfilled 30 million verifications in support of government assistance programs in the United States. Those streamlined verifications help government agencies make faster benefits decisions, which can reduce the time it takes for people to receive the critical assistance they need.
“The Equifax Cloud environment has given us real-time visibility into our cloud infrastructure along with top-tier cybersecurity detection and response capabilities. Achieving FedRAMP Ready status—validation from one of the most stringent security standards in the world—further validates our commitment to being a leader in security,” commented Jamil Farshchi, Chief Information Security Officer at Equifax. “Few companies have dedicated more time and resources into ensuring that information is protected. And, while our participation in FedRAMP guides our interactions with federal agencies, the rigor of the program benefits both the commercial clients of The Work Number and the consumers whose information is included within.”