Equifax Appoints New Chief Information Security Officer to Lead its Best-in-Class Security Program

EQUIFAX HAS APPOINTED JEREMY KOPPEN AS THE ORGANIZATION'S NEW CHIEF INFORMATION SECURITY OFFICER (CISO). Koppen will be responsible for continuing to drive the company’s leadership in security, a core component of the organization’s EFX2027 Strategic Priorities. 

Since 2018, Equifax has invested more than $1.5 billion in the Equifax Cloud™, a top-tier global technology and security infrastructure that sets the organization apart and changed nearly every facet of its infrastructure. The Equifax Cloud enables the organization to drive innovation, new products and growth, while supporting the company’s ongoing commitment to security leadership. 

“Equifax has taken bold actions to tackle today’s biggest security challenges,” said newly appointed Equifax CISO, Jeremy Koppen. “From the company’s culture, to its technology, to its business actions, Equifax has injected security at every level of the organization. I look forward to furthering the organization’s  best-in-class security program that continues to meet and anticipate today’s evolving threats.”

Here, Jeremy shares additional information on his background and his thoughts on some of the Equifax Security strategic priorities. 

Jeremy, please share a little bit more about your background: 

I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to lead cyber engagements with companies around the world,  including Equifax, where I had the opportunity to work in partnership with the internal security team following the 2017 cyber incident. I have also counseled government leaders, corporate boards and C-suite executives — helping them both anticipate and respond to some of the most advanced cybersecurity threats. 

The industry has seen a rapid change in technology and demand for data. How critical is it to balance between innovation and risk?

In today’s dynamic environment, balancing innovation and risk is absolutely critical. Equifax is committed to creating products to meet the needs of our customers and address industry challenges while also ensuring we have robust security measures in place. It’s not enough to innovate rapidly to meet these demands; we must do so securely. This means continuing to infuse security at every stage of innovation. Prioritizing risk from the beginning enables the business to innovate with greater speed while delivering a more seamless and efficient execution and maintaining the trust of our customers. 

How will you continue to foster a culture of security awareness and responsibility across Equifax? 

The tactics leveraged by bad actors continue to evolve in speed and scale, and operating with  a culture of security — where security is everyone’s job — is a top priority. No matter how sophisticated cyber tools are, employees are any company’s first line of defense. Equifax is committed to ongoing security education, building awareness of both threats and best practices. Last year, the organization ran over 210,000 simulations to test its global workforce on diverse security scenarios. That critical work will continue. By making security a shared responsibility, we strengthen the company’s overall resilience.

As Equifax continues to advance its best-in-class security program forward and share its model and lessons with stakeholders and the overall community, how critical is transparency to you? 

Openly discussing challenges and lessons learned with our peers and the industry at large has become a hallmark of the Equifax program. In fact, the organization preemptively eliminated the risks associated with compromised credentials with the rollout of its passwordless initiative, sharing those insights and laying out exactly how the company embarked on this transformation for the broader industry. That type of transparency can be a game-changer for other organizations looking for solutions to similar challenges and fosters collaboration across the industry.