This year has observed a prominent flow in the inspiration of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the software industry Almost every week, software companies unveil their plans to integrate this transformative technology into their platforms. This week, Okta, the identity management company, joined the ranks of innovators, making a series of important Okta AI-related statements during its Oktane customer conference in San Francisco.
Todd McKinnon, CEO of Okta, emphasizes the deep impact of AI on technology, likening its importance and scope to the internet, cloud computing, and mobile technology. Okta’s reply to this upsurge of AI innovation is the introduction of “Okta AI,” a suite of abilities designed to influence the massive reservoir of data the company has collected concerning identity, thereby enhancing customer security.
This initiative aims to yoke the latest advancements in AI technology and integrate them with Okta’s invaluable data resources, such as risk signals, usage patterns, customer data, and policies.
It’s critical to note that Okta AI isn’t just a product; rather, it represents a set of evolving competencies that will progressively improve the platform. Some of these abilities will join predictive AI to assist security teams in identifying potential threats, while others will authorize users to cooperate with data more successfully through generative AI.
McKinnon highlighted three key aspects of Okta AI:
1. Identity Threat Protection: This facet goes beyond conventional identity verification. It inspects several features, such as the user’s device, network, location, and more, to safeguard the legality of the login. In addition, it repeatedly gathers signals from the broader ecosystem, including partners like CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, and Zscalar, to boost identity fraud protection. If a security risk is detected, irrespective of its source, Okta pledges a ‘universal logout’ to safeguard user security until the issue is fixed.
2. Policy Recommender: This ability examines the security outlines of Okta’s vast customer base, numbering over 18,000, to suggest application security settings. By learning from the policies adopted by numerous customers, Policy Recommender aims to strike the right balance between user-friendliness and security, mostly for complex applications. It modifies policy recommendations based on individual customer necessities and security concerns.
3. Log Investigator: Offering a pure generative AI skill, Log Investigator allows users to query Okta logs in natural language to extract information. This technology depends on a generative model that learns from the queries made by users against Okta’s logs. As a result, customers can smoothly pose questions, and the Okta system replies with related answers resulting from their log data.
McKinnon mentioned that Okta uses a blend of AI models, including those from Google, OpenAI, and Amazon, depending on the task. Moreover, the company may discover the development of its own AI model in the future, likely based on open-source foundations.
Ray Wang, founder and principal analyst at Constellation Research, worried about the predictability of an ongoing security battle where AI plays an essential part on both sides. Security and identity companies, like Okta, are bound to embrace AI to effectively contend with this emerging landscape.
As Okta moves forward with these creatives, its success will be measured not only by the application of these ideas but also by its skill to safeguard customer privacy. The AI features publicized this week are slated to enter beta testing in the coming months and become available next year. Okta is positioning itself for a future where AI-driven security becomes the standard.
