How Faraday ensures secure and responsible customer data handling

You know how valuable predictive analytics could be to your business, but you haven’t signed up yet. So, what’s holding you back?

For many businesses, and especially those in notably security-conscious industries like healthcare and finance, data security is the biggest concern. You want the insights that AI and predictive analytics can provide, but you need to know your customer data is safe. At Faraday, we understand that concern. That's why we’ve built our entire platform around safeguarding your sensitive data, from collection to analysis.

In this blog, we’ll walk you through the steps we take to ensure your data remains secure, private, and ethically handled, so you can trust us with the insights that power your business growth. But first, we want to talk about our Faraday Identity Graph and why we take our security so seriously.

The Faraday Identity Graph, and why we take privacy so seriously

The Faraday Identity Graph (FIG) is at the core of everything we do. It’s a powerful tool that allows us to generate accurate, actionable insights from U.S. consumer data, helping brands understand their customers at a deeper level (we also sell this data with data appends). But with great power comes great responsibility. We recognize that the data we work with is highly sensitive, and we take every precaution to handle it with the utmost care.

FIG isn’t only concerned with unlocking insights; it’s also designed with privacy as a top priority. From the very beginning, we’ve built it with robust security features to ensure that consumer data is kept safe and secure. Whether it’s protecting personal information or ensuring compliance with privacy laws, our mission is to uphold the trust you place in us by following the strictest data handling practices.

So let’s start at the top and take a look at some of the foundational security practices we follow to safeguard your data.

SOC 2 compliance

SOC 2 (System and Organization Controls 2) is a security framework designed to ensure that organizations protect customer data from unauthorized access and security incidents, and is often viewed as the gold standard for this purpose. It evaluates five key areas: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.

At Faraday our compliance with SOC 2 compliance standards means we undergo rigorous audits of our security practices every year, with an independent third party verifying that our data protection measures meet the highest industry standards.

Our security policy is built around important principles like the "principle of least privilege" (where users only have access to the data they absolutely need), prevention of supply chain attacks, and strict access controls. We also participate in SOC 2 Type II audits, which not only check that security controls are in place but also assess their effectiveness over time. This ongoing process ensures that we continuously meet top-tier security protocols and maintain a secure environment for your data.

Compliance with privacy regulations

To protect your consumer data, we comply with key privacy regulations, including HIPAA, CCPA, and GDPR, to ensure your data is secure and handled responsibly.

For CCPA and other state privacy laws, we offer an easy opt-out system, allowing individuals to remove themselves from our datasets. What’s more, we extend this opt-out through a reciprocal process to our vendors, so when either Faraday or a vendor receives an opt-out request, the data is removed from both systems—ensuring full compliance across our ecosystem.

As for GDPR, since our Faraday Identity Graph focuses on U.S. data, we proactively filter out non-U.S. data at the "perimeter," ensuring we only process data we are authorized to use.

When handling Client data, Faraday operates as a Data Processor/Service Provider, meaning we will only use client data for the specific contracted purpose and will support our client’s own compliance with state data privacy laws.

Data vendor standards: permissioned and ethically distributed

Ensuring responsible data handling goes beyond secure storage and processing—it also means sourcing data from reputable vendors. At Faraday, we take extra care in selecting the data providers we work with.

We only collaborate with vendors who explicitly affirm in their terms of service that their data is properly permissioned, legally obtained, and authorized for use and distribution. We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of ethical data usage, ensuring that every piece of data we use aligns with the proper permissions and legal requirements so you can confidently leverage accurate, responsible insights.

Addressing bias in consumer data

As a data provider, Faraday acknowledges the reality that consumer data is inherently shaped by historical and systemic biases. We acknowledge these biases but take active steps to mitigate their impact on our models and predictions.

For example, mortgage lending and credit scoring have historically exhibited bias, with certain demographic groups, particularly minorities and women, facing higher rejection rates or higher interest rates due to systemic biases embedded in financial models. These models often relied on historical data that reflected past discriminatory lending practices rather than objective risk.

To avoid perpetuating these systemic biases, Faraday takes a range of actions. For instance, we normalize data to reduce geographic disparities and offer bias detection and mitigation strategies to address disparities along sensitive dimensions such as age and gender.

Responsible AI and ethical data practices are at the forefront of our methodology, ensuring that our models and insights promote fairness and inclusivity.

Secure data handling practices

Faraday accepts data exclusively through secure channels—no emailed files or unprotected transfers. We also support hashed data ingestion and egress, allowing brands to share encrypted email addresses and phone numbers for added security. While hashing is not a foolproof privacy solution, it remains a valuable safeguard, and we ensure it is an option for those who prioritize additional data protection.

Customer data is never shared between clients

One of the most common questions we receive is whether we share customer data across different client accounts. The answer is unequivocally no. Our terms and data processing agreement (DPA) explicitly state that client data is used solely for delivering services to that client, and it is never shared, pooled, or combined with other clients' data in any way. We believe that maintaining clear, stringent data boundaries is essential for protecting client trust and upholding our ethical standards.

Conclusion: a commitment to ethical data handling and security

At Faraday, we don’t just meet industry standards—we set them. From rigorous security audits to responsible data sourcing and compliance with privacy regulations, we prioritize the safety, privacy, and ethical handling of your data at every step. Our commitment to transparency and secure practices ensures that your customer data is protected, and our proactive efforts to address biases help foster fairness in every insight we generate.

By choosing Faraday, you’re not just getting advanced predictive analytics—you’re gaining a trusted partner dedicated to upholding the highest standards of data security and privacy. We believe that responsible data use is the foundation of meaningful insights and lasting business success.

If you have any questions about our data security policies or compliance measures, don’t hesitate to reach out. We're here to help you navigate the complexities of data protection, so you can focus on what truly matters—growing your business with confidence.