Your Tech Story

okta

Software Firm Okta Falls on News That Hackers Viewed Some Customer Files

Software Firm Okta Falls on News That Hackers Viewed Some Customer Files

The software firm, Okta’s stock fell by approximately twelve percent after it announced a vulnerability in its client support system on Friday that enabled certain hackers to look into files shared by specific clients.

Software Firm Okta Falls on News That Hackers Viewed Some Customer Files
Image Source: forbes.com

“Okta security has identified adversarial activity that leveraged access to a stolen credential to access Okta’s support case management system,” Chief Security Officer David Bradbury said in a blog.

finance.yahoo.com

He excluded information about the clients who were impacted and the type of data that was exposed.

The business said that the production Okta service, which was still fully operating and unaffected, differed from its support case management system.

The business, based in San Francisco, serves clients that include Microsoft-backed OpenAI by offering identity solutions, like single sign-on as well as multiple-factor authentication, which are employed for logging into digital applications as well as websites.

Shares of Okta closed at 75.57 dollars, down 11.6 percent.

Okta has now been the target of many documented safety breaches, the most well-known of which was the Lapsuss attack at the beginning of the year. Since that event did not have a long-lasting effect on Okta’s operations, it is doubtful that this lesser breach would have the same effect.

The spotlight surrounding these violations poses a risk to reputation, while their effects are tougher to ascertain.

The price of Okta stock has now decreased by roughly 20 percent over the past two sessions, effectively wiping all the gains it gained after soaring on the news of the company’s latest revenue report.

A share of the company now sells at a price-to-sales ratio of 6, which is low relative to its previous value, but unless the firm can reassure financiers, stocks will probably be punished.

Also Read: Revroad Capital Makes History With $61m Debut Early-Stage Venture Fund in Utah

Raymond James analyst Adam Tindle said in a report:

“We believe it can take time to figure out the details involved in security incidents, and note that BeyondTrust is a customer and competitor of Okta.”

“As we await more details from Okta, we believe another security incident could cause customers to question their identity/access provider and rethink renewals/expansion as Okta looks to move into adjacencies,” Tindle added.

investors.com

Numerous observers had harsh reactions to the situation. Okta was put on Citigroup’s negative catalyst watch, with the company stating that regardless of whether the breach is found, the negative effect on public opinion following several security breaches is worrying. Additionally, it stated that a negative reputation can hinder the growth of new clients.

Todd McKinnon : The Founder of Okta, a Company that Specializes in Enterprise Security

Taking risks, is what most of the people are afraid of, especially, when they are running in their late 30s. At the time when people are earning enough money by working under someone else, it was Todd McKinnon, who wanted to pursue his childhood dream of becoming an entrepreneur. Even he was heading a team of more than a hundred employees in his last company and was earning an adequate amount of money to survive in a place like Silicon Valley, he decided to leave the job and just work for his dream. Having years of experience and a great vision, today, he is the founder of a billion dollars company, Okta.

Early Life

McKinnon was born in Southern California and grew up in its bay area. His father was a VP of HR, who worked for various different companies, and his mother was a homemaker.

He completed his under graduation from Brigham Young University, and later, went to the California Polytechnic State University, where he completed a degree in computer science.

Career

McKinnon finds himself lucky, to be born and brought up in the capital of technology. Being a native of Silicon Valley, since his childhood, he was convinced that he would work for an IT company in Silicon Valley.

ToddMcKinnon
Image Source: sbnonline.com

During his graduation, he got recruited by PeopleSoft, in the campus placement, in 1995. At the time, he was building a database application for the recreation department on campus. Co-incidently, the recruiter from PeopleSoft was also working on a similar project and liked Mckinnon’s work and recruited him.

McKinnon was hired as an engineer in the company and received multiple promotions in the span of eight years.

After working for eight long years in PeopleSoft, in 2003, McKinnon left the job and started working at SalesForce. In 2009, he left SalesForce to start his own company, i.e. Okta.

Founding Okta

Besides the dream of working in a Silicon Valley company, McKinnon was also fascinated with the idea of starting his own business. The reason he gives for not starting a business earlier is that he always had good jobs in hand, and those were helpful in gaining good business experience.

In SalesForce, he was managing over hundreds of employees, and he had got a good reputation. He decided that it was the right time to start a business, as he was financially and mentally capable of doing that at the time.

At the same time, people got introduced to the cloud, and not many were sure how long it is going to last. But McKinnon saw an opportunity in the same. He started off developing with a macro product, and when he went out to talk and sell the product to people, he realized there was much more to the cloud, and finally, started working on identity management on the cloud.

McKinnon pitched the idea in over 75 meetings in a span of four to five months. He also asked a former SalesForce colleague, Freddy Kerrest, to join him for the startup, and finally, after seven months of hard, work was able to raise a million dollars seed funding to start the business and founded Okta in 2009. Okta provides cloud software that helps companies manage their employees’ passwords, by providing a “single sign-on” experience.

The company earned its first paying client, in December 2009. In 2015, the company was valued at $1.2 billion and raised $75 million in venture capital from Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital.

In 2017, the company went public, and in its IPO it raised $187 million. Okta has its offices in Bellevue, Toronto, London, Amsterdam, Sydney, San Jose and Washington D.C., and its headquarter is located in San Fransisco. In January 2019, the company reported a number of 100 million registered users on Okta and the company valued at over $7 billion.

Personal Life

McKinnon is married and has two children. He lives with his family in San Francisco. He is a fitness freak, and in 2017, he was named as the 14th fittest man on earth in the age group of 45-to-49, in the annual CrossFit Games, held in Madison, Wisconsin. Currently, he serves as the CEO of Okta.