Equifax has announced it is acquiring Kount, one of the leading fraud prevention companies.
Equifax made headlines in 2017 when it suffered one of the worst cyberattacks in history. The hack was a dark spot on a company whose entire existence revolves around consumer data and credit. To make matters worse, the company’s response was widely panned by critics, demonstrating a continued lack of good security measures. The company’s latest acquisition shows how serious it is about improving its security and offering the best options to its customers.
Kount provides AI-driven fraud protection, helping businesses engage with customers while establishing online digital trust. Identity trust allows companies to establish a trust level for each and every transaction and account action, allowing businesses to determine the level of risk they are willing to take.
The company’s portfolio will be an important addition to Equifax’s efforts to keep its customers safe.
“As digital migration accelerates, managing authentication and online fraud while optimizing the consumer’s experience has become one of our customers’ top challenges. The acquisition of Kount will expand Equifax’s differentiated data assets to bring global businesses the information and solutions they need to establish identity trust online,” said Mark W. Begor, CEO of Equifax. “Equifax is taking advantage of our strong 2020 outperformance and cash generation to make this strategic acquisition. Our data and technology cloud investments allow us to quickly and aggressively integrate new data and analytics assets like Kount into our global capabilities and bring new market leading products and solutions to our customers.”
“More than 9,000 brands worldwide rely on the Kount Identity Trust Global Network to protect against digital fraud while enabling personalized customer experiences and new e-commerce channels,” said Bradley Wiskirchen, CEO of Kount. “We are excited to be able to offer Kount solutions with an expansive set of Equifax data, analytics and products. Equifax’s global reach will accelerate Kount’s international adoption, allowing us to help more businesses around the world to better protect their digital innovations and their customers against emerging threats while improving the customer experience.”
The deal is worth $640 million and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021.