Throughout its 2024 Oktane conference, identity management provider Oktane talked up its plans to expand its partner ecosystem.
Executives spoke of initiatives ranging from the proposed IPSIE standard and its roster of high-profile collaborators in the cloud and SaaS field to the updated Workforce Identity Cloud (WIC) and its potential for smaller partners to collaborate and expand their own reach.
While partners are usually a focus at any major industry conference, this year’s Oktane seemed to draw a particular amount of enthusiasm from attendees who saw the company’s announcements as a potential bounty for their own offerings via integration with the Okta platform.
One such partner was 1Password, who has worked with Okta since the earliest days of its existence and sees the identity management firm as a natural fit for its own password management offerings.
“It is interesting to see how they are starting to bring AI into identity, how we can apply those to more focused use cases,” said Nick Fitzsimmons, 1Password director of marketing for extended access management. “I think they have got a lot of promise for delivering.”
In the case of 1Password, Fitzsimmons sees a lot of opportunity for collaboration in areas such as device security. In particular, Okta’s efforts to phase out multi-factor authentication through SMS in favor of more secure methods and approaches.
““Not all factors are created equal, things like SMS are more prone to phishing ,” he explained. “We need to figure out a way to say identity is important, but you also need the context of the device.”
Also looking to expand its presence with collaboration from Okta is Nametag, security firm that specializes in detecting deepfake image attempts. CEO Aaron Painter told SC Media that his company has been collaborating with Okta for over a year and recently announced a partnership with its GenAI initiative.
In his company’s case Painter sees the Nametag mobile offering a simple way for users to verify themselves when seeking out thongs such as helpdesk calls where the risk of phishing attacks and social engineering scams is high.
“It was joint customers that pushed us to work closer with Okta,” Painter explained.
“Okta has endorsed identity verification as critical in their own user experience. Having technology that focuses on deepfakes and endorses workforce security is critical.”
