Plaid Launches Portal to Ease Access to Cybersecurity-Related Information

Plaid is streamlining access to information that is commonly requested during cybersecurity due diligence efforts.

The firm has launched a public-facing portal called Security Portal that existing and prospective customers and partners can use to access information they need to make informed decisions during procurement and at other times, Plaid said in a Thursday (Feb. 23) blog post.

“At Plaid, we work with 8,000+ customers and 12,000+ data partners to foster innovation in the FinTech ecosystem,” the company said in the post. “At that scale, supporting cybersecurity due diligence reviews can be inefficient and time-consuming for everyone.”

The Security Portal brings together in one place information about how Plaid is vetted by third-party organizations and the investments it makes in its security posture, according to the blog post.

The portal will be regularly updated with audits reports, certifications and other related information. Customers and partners can subscribe to be notified of these updates in real time, the post said.

It includes both public and private security documents. The public files include the company’s ISO certificate and standard prefilled vendor security questionnaires. These can be downloaded directly from the portal, per the post.

Customers and partners can also request access to the private security materials that include more sensitive security details. There’s an auto-approval process that provides instant access, and a manual approval process by Plaid’s security team for applicants who weren’t granted access automatically.

“Our vision for the Security Portal is grounded in ensuring a frictionless procurement process while addressing the high bar of expectations our customers and partners have when qualifying our technology,” Plaid said in the post.

PYMNTS research has found that fraud attacks targeting financial institutions are a growing threat.

Criminals are increasingly succeeding in exploiting the vulnerabilities in financial institutions’ systems, with approximately 59% of financial institutions reporting they experienced an increase in their overall fraud rates in 2022, according to “Fighting Fraud in the Credit Union Space,” the February edition of the “Credit Union Tracker®,” a PYMNTS and PSCU collaboration.

The launch of Plaid’s Security Portal comes about a week after the firm partnered with Okta to help financial institutions offer open finance more securely.

That collaboration will combine Plaid’s data network that connects financial accounts to apps and services with Okta’s identity solutions that enable secure access, the companies said Feb. 14.