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Sensitive values

Full SSN, passport, alien registration and account numbers, encrypted for the partner

GET /sensitive/applications/{applicationId} returns the full values document validation needs: Social Security, passport and alien registration numbers for every person on the application, and institution and account number for every bank account GET /assets returns. GET /applications/{applicationId}/full returns the same values (and the SSA claim numbers) inline with sensitive: read, encrypted the same way. Other routes return the last 4 characters at most.

Encryption

Each value is a Base64 string, encrypted with the secret Fortress gives you:

  • AES-256-GCM
  • key: SHA-256 of the secret (32 bytes)
  • a random 16-byte IV per value, so the same value never encrypts the same way twice
  • Base64 of [IV 16 bytes][AuthTag 16 bytes][ciphertext]

Decrypt in Node.js:

const crypto = require("crypto");
function decryptValue(encrypted, secret) {
  const data = Buffer.from(encrypted, "base64");
  const key = crypto.createHash("sha256").update(secret).digest();
  const decipher = crypto.createDecipheriv("aes-256-gcm", key, data.subarray(0, 16));
  decipher.setAuthTag(data.subarray(16, 32));
  return Buffer.concat([decipher.update(data.subarray(32)), decipher.final()]).toString("utf8");
}

decipher.final() throws when the secret is wrong or the value was changed: treat that as a failure, never as an empty value.

null

A value is null when Fortress has no usable value for it. Ask the applicant or a Fortress reviewer for it as you would for a missing value. Minors never have a passport number.

Access

  • Your API key must be enabled for sensitive values, and Fortress must have given you your secret. Until both are done /sensitive answers 403. On /full, a key granted sensitive: read that names no partner gets 200 with the sensitive fields absent; a partner with no secret gets 403 SENSITIVE_DATA_NOT_ENABLED.
  • The response is never cached (Cache-Control: no-store). Do not store decrypted values longer than the validation needs, and never log them.
  • When your secret changes, Fortress tells you the cut-over time in advance. Values read after it decrypt only with the new secret; re-read any value that fails to decrypt around the cut-over.