Okta, Inc. Explained

Okta, Inc.
Former Name:Saasure Inc. (2009–2010)
Type:Public
Industry:Software
Hq Location:100 First Plaza
Area Served:Worldwide
Products:Single Sign-On
Revenue: (2024)
Num Employees:5,908 (2024)
Footnotes:Financials .[1]

Okta, Inc. (formerly SaaSure Inc.) is an American identity and access management company based in San Francisco.[2] It provides cloud software that helps companies manage and secure user authentication into applications, and for developers to build identity controls into applications, website, web services, and devices.[3] It was founded in 2009 and had its initial public offering in 2017, reaching a valuation of over $6 billion.

Products and services

Okta sells six services, including a single-sign-on service that allows users to log into a variety of systems using a single centralized process. For example, the company claims the ability to log into Gmail, Workday, Salesforce and Slack with one login.[4] [5] It also offers API authentication services.[6]

Okta's services are built on top of the Amazon Web Services cloud.[7]

Okta primarily targets enterprise businesses. Claimed customers as of 2020 include Zoominfo, JetBlue, Nordstrom, MGM Resorts International, and the U.S. Department of Justice.[8]

Okta runs an annual “Oktane” user conference, which in 2018 featured former US President Barack Obama as a keynote speaker.[9] [10] [11]

History

Okta was co-founded in 2009 by Todd McKinnon and Frederic Kerrest, who previously worked together at Salesforce.[12]

In 2015, the company raised US $75 million in venture capital from Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, and Sequoia Capital, at a total initial valuation of US$1.2 billion.[13]

In 2017, Okta's initial public offering priced at $17.00 per share, trading up on its first day, to raise an additional US$187 million.[14] [15] At the time of its IPO, Sequoia Capital was the biggest shareholder, with a 21.2 percent stake.[16]

In January 2019, Okta's CEO announced that the company has over 100 million registered users.[17]

In August 2020, Okta announced that it plans to let most of its employees work remotely on a permanent basis as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.[18]

In March 2021, Okta signed a definitive agreement to acquire Auth0 for $6.5 billion.[19] The deal closed in May 2021.[20]

In August 2021, Okta signed a definitive agreement to acquire atSpoke for $90 million.[21]

In December 2023, Okta acquired security firm Spera for approximately $100–130 million.[22]

Security incidents

On March 9, 2021, hacking collective "Advanced Persistent Threat 69420" breached an Okta office network through a security failure in the company's Verkada camera setup.[23] They were able to download security footage from the cameras.[24] One member of the group, Maia Arson Crimew, also revealed that the group had gained root shell access to the network.[25] In a blog post the next-day, Okta Chief Security Officer David Bradbury minimized the root shell as an "internal support tool" of the camera manufacturer Verkada. However, the shell would have given the hackers full access to execute any commands on the network, and Cloudflare admitted that a similar hack by the group on that company's network provided them with the same level of access.[26] Bradbury also said that the threat was contained to an isolated network.

On March 22, 2022, the hacking group LAPSUS$ posted screenshots claiming to be from Okta internal systems.[27] The next day, Okta concluded that a maximum of 366 of their customers data may potentially have been impacted, further stating that the breach originated with a computer used by one of Okta's third-party customer support engineers to which the hackers had access.[28]

In December 2022, Okta's source code was stolen when a hacker gained access to their GitHub repository.[29]

In early October 2023, Okta was notified of a breach resulting in hackers stealing HTTP access tokens from Okta's support platform by BeyondTrust. Okta denied the incident for a number of weeks, but later recognized that a breach had occurred.[30] Customers impacted by the Okta breach included Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts International, 1Password and Cloudflare.[31] [32] [33] On November 29th, 2023, it was known that the security incident affected all Okta customers.[34] [35]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Okta Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024 . March 1, 2024.
  2. News: Okta CEO Is Feeling Optimistic. Looks Like Investors Are Too. Rivas. Teresa. December 6, 2017. Barron's. April 8, 2018. en-US.
  3. News: Okta Insists Identity 'Goes Beyond' Passwords. Bridgwater. Adrian. May 23, 2018. Forbes. March 6, 2019. en-US.
  4. News: Okta CEO: 'We Exist Because It's a Heterogenous World'. Ray. Tiernan. 2018-04-08. en-US.
  5. News: Okta: A Bigger Deal Than Oracle Someday?. Ray. Tiernan. 2018-04-08. en-US.
  6. News: Okta Wants To Go Big And Go It Alone in Enterprise Software. Fortune. 2018-04-08. en.
  7. News: This Enterprise Software Unicorn Just Filed to Go Public. Fortune. 2018-04-08. en.
  8. News: Okta Identity Cloud Securely Connects JetBlue to its Customers. 2018-03-07. Venturebeat. 2019-06-26. en.
  9. News: Inside Privacy: Okta CEO Takes Hardcore Line On Identity Management. Bridgwater. Adrian. Forbes. 2018-04-08. en.
  10. News: I followed the CEO of $6 billion Okta around and learned the secrets of a tech conference that landed President Obama as a speaker. Bort. Julie. BusinessInsider. 2019-06-26. en.
  11. News: Barack Obama is speaking at a tech conference, but not one you'd expect. Thadani. Trisha. SFChronicle. 2019-06-26. en.
  12. News: Okta CEO McKinnon on the Tech IPO Landscape and Data Security . en . 2018-04-08.
  13. News: Ovide . Shira . 2015-09-08 . Okta Raises $75 Million, Boosting Valuation to Nearly $1.2 Billion . en-US . WSJ . 2018-04-08.
  14. News: Okta shares soar nearly 39 percent in first day of trading . www.bizjournals.com . 2018-04-08.
  15. News: Balakrishnan . Anita . 2017-04-07 . Okta skyrockets more than 38% after IPO . CNBC . 2018-04-08.
  16. Web site: Okta shares soar nearly 39 percent in first day of trading . 2018-04-08 . www.bizjournals.com.
  17. Web site: Gurdus . Elizabeth . 2019-01-24 . Okta CEO: We now have over 100 million registered users . 2019-01-25 . www.cnbc.com.
  18. Web site: Brian Fung . Software company Okta will let most of its 2,600 employees work remotely permanently . 2020-09-15 . CNN. 27 August 2020 .
  19. Web site: Dignan . Larry . Okta and Auth0: A $6.5 billion bet that identity will warrant its own cloud . 2021-03-09 . ZDNet . en.
  20. News: Okta's Auth0 deal closes: Inside the 8-year, $6.5 billion courtship . May 3, 2021 . 23 June 2022 . Fortune . https://web.archive.org/web/20210504143735/https://fortune.com/2021/05/03/okta-auth0-deal-stock-login-acquisition . 4 May 2021.
  21. Web site: Novinson . Michael . Okta Quietly Buys Startup atSpoke to Fuel Identity Governance CRN . 2024-07-16 . www.crn.com.
  22. Web site: 2023-12-19 . Okta snatches up security firm Spera, reportedly for over $100M . 2023-12-19 . TechCrunch . en-US.
  23. News: Turton . William . 2021-03-09 . Hackers Breach Thousands of Security Cameras, Exposing Tesla, Jails, Hospitals . en . Bloomberg . 2021-03-10.
  24. Web site: Bradbury . David . 2021-03-10 . A CSO's perspective on the recent Verkada cyber attack . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210317003532/https://sec.okta.com/articles/2021/03/csos-perspective-recent-verkada-cyber-attack . 2021-03-17 . 2021-03-16 . Okta Security.
  25. News: Paresh . Dave . 2021-03-10 . Tesla says Shanghai factory not hacked after breach of Verkada surveillance cameras . en . Reuters . 2021-03-17.
  26. Web site: Graham-Cumming . John . 2021-03-10 . About the March 8 & 9, 2021 Verkada camera hack . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210310231522/https://blog.cloudflare.com/about-the-march-8-9-2021-verkada-camera-hack/ . 2021-03-10 . 2021-03-17 . The Cloudflare Blog . en.
  27. News: Authentication firm Okta probes report of digital breach . CNN . 22 March 2022.
  28. Web site: Camacho . Antonio Ruiz . 2022-03-23 . Okta Says Hundreds of Customers May Have Been Exposed by January Breach . . en.
  29. Web site: Okta had another security incident, this time involving stolen source code .
  30. Web site: Hackers Stole Access Tokens from Okta’s Support Unit . krebsonsecurity.
  31. Web site: Goswami . Rohan . 2023-10-23 . Okta cybersecurity breach wipes out more than $2 billion in market cap . CNBC . en.
  32. Web site: Zaman . Sourov . 2023-10-20 . How Cloudflare mitigated yet another Okta compromise . https://web.archive.org/web/20231024162324/https://blog.cloudflare.com/how-cloudflare-mitigated-yet-another-okta-compromise/ . 2023-10-24 . 2023-10-25 . The Cloudflare Blog . en.
  33. Web site: How 1Password, Cloudflare affected by Okta compromise . JONATHAN . GREIG . 2023-10-25 . 2023-10-24.
  34. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/29/business/okta-reveals-extensive-hack/index.html Identity management company Okta reveals far more extensive hack of its systems
  35. https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/29/okta-admits-hackers-accessed-data-on-all-customers-during-recent-breach/ Okta admits hackers accessed data on all customers during recent breach

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