Okta, the identity security giant, is primed to acquire Spera Security, an identity security platform founded in 2022 by Dor Fledel and Ariel Kadyshevitch. The move is part of Okta's ongoing drive to better its capabilities in identity threat detection and security posture management. Spera Security, with its headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel, will enrich Okta's customer base with enhanced insights and cutting-edge technology to promptly detect, identify and counter risks pertaining to identity security posture management.
Beyond augmenting Okta's offerings, the integration will also equip Okta's clientele to expose threats and rectify configuration errors within their Identity Provider (IDP) as well as other infrastructure and SaaS applications such as AWS, GCP, GitHub and Salesforce. It will boost clients' proficiency to pinpoint and dismantle identity silos across their technological stack, for instance, non-MFA admins or partially offboarded users.
Okta acknowledges the identity breaches as the prevalent threat vector facing organisations nowadays, with 86% of these breaches driven primarily by phishing attacks and other credential abuse. This includes social engineering attacks, credential stuffing and abuse. This risk factor is inflated significantly by the sheer volume and intricacy of accounts in cloud applications and services. Unmanaged identities not overseen by a central Identity Provider, unoffboarded users, and non-federated service accounts serve as potential targets for contemporary threat actors. Therefore, the necessity for IT and security teams to have surveillance and quick-responsive capabilities for all corporate accounts and resources is of paramount importance.
As per research conducted by Gartner, the implementation of identity threat detection and response (ITDR) is key for identity security. It is predicted that by 2026, embedded ITDR strategies will be utilised by 90% of organisations, a significant leap from the current 5%-20% today. The acquisition of Spera Security by Okta continues to fortify its commitment towards secure identity product offerings, also aligning with its mission to enable everyone to use any technology in a secure manner.
Okta has previously added significant features to Okta FastPass, its passwordless, phishing-resistant authenticator. In addition, the company unveiled Identity Threat Protection with Okta AI at Oktane and introduced Okta Privileged Access. The newest acquisition underscores Okta's initiative in providing controlled access to a business's essential systems, applications, and data, supporting businesses in maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements and streamlining security operations.
Okta looks set to make an impactful leap in the identity security sector with this acquisition, providing a more robust framework for clients to manage identity-based threats. Their Identity Threat Protection (ITP) integrates various components of the tech stack, offering a newer kind of security paradigm. This enables seamless integrations and real-time, post-authentication risk assessments. In a significant transformative shift, ITP positions itself as the connecting layer across the tech stack, detecting unusual events such as changes in IP address or device context, helping organisations effectively neutralise identity threats. This bold move by Okta will certainly be closely watched over by privacy enthusiasts and businesses alike in this rapidly evolving digital world.