FICO To Launch Corporate Security Score

Shutterstock

FICO is best known for its consumer credit rating services, but the company revealed Tuesday (June 14) that it will launch a new product that rates the security of corporations.

Known as Fair Isaac Corp., FICO announced this week that it has acquired QuadMetrics, a cybersecurity startup. While the companies did not delve details on the takeover, FICO did note that it plans to enter into the world of enterprise security through the acquisition.

Its biggest plan, reports said, is to use QuadMetrics’ capabilities in predictive analytics and risk assessment strategy to create an “enterprise security score” for business customers. QuadMetrics says it had achieved 90 percent accuracy in predicting the chances that a company will suffer a cyber attack.

FICO said it hopes to provide a tool to underwrite companies’ cybersecurity levels.

“Just as the FICO Score gave credit markets a single metric for understanding credit risk, this product will give the industry a common view of enterprise security risk,” the firm’s vice president of cybersecurity solutions Doug Clare said in a statement.

According to reports, QuadMetrics uses more than 250 metric points to assess a corporate IT network, then aggregates that information and runs a predictive risk assessment.

FICO’s acquisition of a cybersecurity company may not come as a surprise to everyone.

Last year the company warned that the FinTech industry needs to improve its cybersecurity capabilities, and to do so by gaining control of Big Data.

In a blog post for the company, Clare said lawmakers and industry players need to collaborate and share data to enable a “continuous learning loop” that leads to actionable insight to detect and prevent security breaches.