Implementing security best practices in Okta developer orgs
How we’ve fortified security in Okta Developer Edition Service
Securing customer-facing services or developer playgrounds is paramount in this age of software development. This post discusses various strategies and measures that we have adopted to fortify our Developer Edition Service. Join us as we walk you through our journey of establishing robust security practices, providing insights that could help other organizations enhance their security posture.
What is Okta Developer Edition Service?
Okta Developer Edition Service is a free plan which offers Workforce Identity Cloud orgs with many features enabled. This edition of Workforce Identity Cloud lets developers test their code and apps, and manage and automate Workforce Identity Cloud for employees and partners. Signing up is easy — all you need to provide is your name, country, and a work email address.
The Developer Edition Service is predominantly used by Okta Integration Network ISVs and Workforce Identity Cloud developers who do not have Okta Preview Sandbox orgs to test their apps and code. The bulk of Okta’s developer documentation directly references the use of an Okta Developer Edition Service org.
What does Okta Developer Edition Service offer?
When you sign up for the Developer Edition Service, you get access to a fully functional Workforce Identity Cloud org and a variety of features and services designed to help you build secure, scalable, and reliable applications. Here are some of the key features:
- Authentication and authorization: Workforce Identity Cloud provides a complete set of user sign-in services, including social login, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), and Single Sign-On (SSO).
- User management: You can manage your users, including creating, reading, updating, and deleting user accounts. You can also manage user profiles and password policies.
- Rate limits: Developer Edition Service has certain rate limits, but they are generally high enough for development and testing purposes.
- Apps: There’s usually a limit to how many unique apps you can configure with Developer Edition.
You can visit developer documentation for details on all the features and services available with Developer Edition.
How did we fortify the Developer Edition Service?
In our continuous efforts to enhance the security posture of the Developer Edition Service, we have implemented several measures:
- MFA: We have enabled MFA for all admin accounts of the Developer Edition Service. This adds an extra security layer that requires users to provide at least two forms of identification before they can access their Developer Edition Service accounts.
- Email domain restrictions: We have disallowed the registration of Developer Edition Service with disposable email domains. This helps prevent spam and abuse by ensuring that only legitimate email addresses can be used to register for our services.
- Org2Org app integration restrictions: We have disallowed Org2Org app integration in the Developer Edition Service. This prevents potential security risks associated with allowing one Workforce Identity Cloud org to access data from another.
- Enforcing device binding for creating sessions: We have made sure to enforce device binding for creating sessions for all Identity Providers (IdPs). This security measure ensures that a session can only be created and used from the same device where it was initially created, preventing session hijacking or sidejacking.
- Okta ThreatInsight: We have set the Okta ThreatInsight settings to log authentication attempts from malicious IPs. This allows us to monitor and respond to potential threats in real time.
- Password policy: We have implemented a robust password policy that includes a minimum password length of 12 characters, restrictions on using parts of the username or common passwords, a minimum password age of 2 hours, and a password history enforcement for 24 passwords. These measures help ensure that user accounts are protected by strong, unique passwords.
- System logs monitoring: Okta’s Defensive Cyber Operations team monitors the system logs generated from the Developer Edition Service. This allows our security team to quickly identify and respond to potential security incidents.
Getting started with Developer Edition
We believe that the measures that we have taken to protect our users and their data also provide a blueprint for other organizations looking to enhance their security posture.
If you are in software development, IT administration, product management, marketing, sales, or business development seeking to build custom apps using Okta Workforce Identity Cloud for sign-in and user management or to connect and distribute your apps to our mutual customers by integrating SSO and provisioning, we invite you to sign up for the Okta Developer Edition Service today and experience the difference for yourself.
