The Power of Open: Why Okta Joined the OCSF Project

Identity is foundational for a successful move to the cloud and a key element of modern security. As an independent and neutral identity provider, Okta believes that technology delivers more value and security when it’s built to integrate and interoperate with other tools and software providers—which is why we’re a founding member of the Open Cybersecurity Schema Framework coalition (OCSF). 

This open-source project will help organizations detect, investigate, and stop security attacks faster and more effectively. OCSF’s mandate aligns with Okta’s core vision: enabling everyone to safely use any technology regardless of vendor. The coalition, and similar open-source initiatives, play an essential role in accelerating the adoption of Zero Trust and identity-first security.

Interoperability and standardization are critical for a Zero Trust future

The universe of apps and tools for employee productivity is extensive—and growing fast. As cloud technologies spread and employers are called on to support both corporate and personal devices, new security challenges emerge: The traditional model of trusting everything on the corporate network no longer applies in the new threat landscape. The trust boundary must move out to users as devices become the new perimeter for security programs.

According to Gartner* “60% of organizations will embrace Zero Trust as a starting point for security by 2025.” The key to a successful Zero Trust initiative lies in solutions that seamlessly integrate with one another, creating a defense-in-depth posture that protects an organization from the whole spectrum of threats. 

OCSF will play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between security solutions. The coalition is committed to building the standards that make broad and deep interoperability available to organizations of all sizes and technological complexity. Today, organizations largely rely on their own teams to wire security solutions together in a state of constant reactivity. These cobbled-together solutions may quickly become obsolete and inadequate to stop cyberattacks. By creating standards and allowing applications and tools to share risk signals and data, OCSF will allow organizations to continuously evolve their security strategies. 

The identity-first approach to security 

Identity is the front door to every user interaction. That makes it essential for solving today’s security challenges, where credential-based attacks are huge drivers of fraud and data theft. 

An identity-first security approach ensures that the right employee can access the right tools and information in the right context. The increased adoption of cloud-based applications underscores the importance of an identity-first foundation. What’s more, organizations must extend elevated security standards beyond their own workforce and tech stacks to those of their partners and suppliers. With identity-first security, IT leaders can ensure that access to their most critical resources is properly authenticated for the appropriate devices and users, whether they’re employees, partners, or contractors. 

Why Okta is an ideal OCSF partner

Okta is singularly focused on solving identity challenges, which means we don’t favor any specific technology, stack, application, or cloud. With over 7,000 integrations in the Okta Integration Network, the Okta Identity Cloud makes it easy for security, IT, and developer teams to build, maintain, and deploy identity solutions and capabilities. When security technology works well with organizations’ day-to-day tools, our digital world becomes a safer, more secure place. 

We’ve developed the Okta Identity Cloud to be comprehensive and customizable to meet all builders’ and users’ identity needs. A broad collection of integrations feed risk signals and data in and out of the Okta Identity Cloud, ultimately benefiting IT and security teams as they develop the best security architecture for their businesses. 

As a founding member of OCSF, Okta is committed to elevating the standards and practices of cybersecurity professionals everywhere. Learn more about the Okta Identity Cloud.

 ^*Gartner, “Gartner Unveils the Top Eight Cybersecurity Predictions for 2022-23,” Press Release, 21 June 2022.