Oktane 2023: Go beyond with AI and Identity

After 11 years of Oktane, I’m still left awed and inspired by the global community of Identity experts who come together to discuss the opportunities ahead for the industry and learn what’s next for Okta. But this year was different. 

The past several months have been one of the most consequential times in the industry I’ve ever witnessed. After decades of starts and stops, the AI moment has arrived. We’re at the precipice of a period of unbridled technological progress. 

As developers, entrepreneurs, and companies embrace and succeed with AI, we’ll see a new wave of applications, tools, capabilities, and even other platforms built around it. The innovations that lie ahead could surprise us, excite us, and maybe even scare us, but will ultimately change all of our lives for the better – despite what some critics may claim. 

Of course, we at Okta know this feeling well. Nearly 15 years ago, the same energy and excitement in the early days of the cloud transition compelled us to start the company. We were on a mission to help companies embrace the cloud, and Identity — really Okta — was the driving force behind the rapid adoption and global scale of the cloud. We removed the complexity of building Identity from scratch and empowered millions of developers to build apps in the cloud.

That same desire to be the force that connects people with technology is why we’re focused on the AI future ahead of us. For businesses to unlock the power of AI, as well as protect against the risks posed by the technology, they need a trusted Identity solution. And that’s where Okta shines. 

Introducing Okta AI, the Identity solution for the next era of computing

Okta AI is AI for Identity. It’s powered by the massive amounts of data we’ve accumulated over the past 15 years, including anonymized insights crowdsourced from our 18,400+ customers and the 7,000+ integrations in the Okta Integration Network, as well as data we gather about usage, policies, threats, and risk signals. Okta AI uses that data to perform powerful, real-time security, developer, and policy actions. Great AI is only as good as the data that feeds it and the actions you can take. 

Okta AI is infused into several of our products. It makes our existing products more valuable and new products possible — all while expanding what it means to be integrated and protected. 

Below are just a few of the innovative products we rolled out at Oktane. 

Okta AI for enterprise security

Hackers are getting smarter. Their tactics are becoming more effective, and the resulting breaches are more disruptive to businesses. 

In 2019, a simple MFA using SMS as a factor could block 96% of all phishing attacks. Fast forward to today: 86% of breaches stem from credential abuse, and AI is a major factor powering a 47% rise in successful phishing attacks. Playing defense isn’t enough anymore. 

That’s the motivation behind Identity Threat Protection with Okta AI, a new product that will enable businesses to prevent and respond to threats faster than ever before. It empowers organizations to automate the detection and remediation of Identity threats across the tech ecosystem. It extends adaptive risk evaluation from the point of authentication to any time a user is logged in and helps you quickly prevent and respond to threats. 

Identity Threat Protection allows for an array of powerful new actions like Universal Logout. For the first time in our industry, it’s possible to automatically log users out of their apps during a security issue. An attacker hijacks a session? Simple, just invalidate it. Bad actors might be getting more sophisticated, but we are using the power of AI and our ecosystem to keep you safe and a step ahead. 

Empowering developers in the AI era

Our approach to Customer Identity centers on developers and freeing them up to innovate and build. Developers want to focus on building new products and AI-driven applications. All the more reason that they shouldn't have to worry about Identity — Okta handles that.

Over the years, we’ve made major strides in dramatically reducing the time that developers spend on authentication. We now need to do the same for authorization. Developers still spend too many mental calories building homegrown systems and authorization capabilities. They need an authorization solution that will scale with their organization and operate at incredibly low latency, high reliability, and the highest levels of security. That’s where Fine Grained Authorization comes in, and it’s made even more effective with Guide with Okta AI, a new capability that delivers comprehensive onboarding assistance to help developers intuitively define their authorization model. 

What’s more, we’re taking another step forward on our passwordless journey with Passkeys. Passkeys provide a phishing-resistant sign-up and sign-in experience for consumers, making them less reliant on legacy credentials. 

A note for developers: Discover all the standout moments from Oktane by registering for our Best of Oktane, for developers webinar.

Identity is fueling the AI revolution

Technology shifts present all companies with the opportunity to leap ahead or fall behind. We see a ton of potential in the AI era — and it all comes down to Identity. Identity is our means of connecting people with technology. We build Identity so you can thrive in the AI revolution. 

Catch up on the highlights  

Missed Oktane this year? Check out all the product announcements we made at the event, and register for one of our upcoming “Best of Oktane” webinars to get all the key details around announcements and the roadmap ahead:

• Best of Oktane recap webinar – Register for one of three sessions across November 7 and 8, 2023
• Best of Oktane, for developers webinar – Register for November 9, 2023 from 10am PT