Identity protection specialist Okta announced on December 20 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Spera Security, an Israel-based identify platform provider.
This is deal No. 334 that MSSP Alert and sister site ChannelE2E have covered during 2023. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but a report put the transaction in the range of $100-$130 million. Okta said the deal is expected to close during our fiscal first quarter beginning February 1, 2024.
Okta, based in San Francisco, California, had 6,013 employees as of January 2023. The company focuses on identity services such as single sign-on and multi-factor authentication to secure logins for online applications and websites to customers, including Microsoft-backed OpenAI.
Spera Security, headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, has 34 employees, according to LinkedIn. Spera builds on Okta’s identity threat detection, security posture management and attack surface management capabilities.
“With Spera Security, we will equip our customers with richer insights and technology to elevate their Identity security posture management, and quickly identify, detect, and remediate risks,” stated Arnab Bose, chief product officer for Okta’s Workforce Identity solutions.
Okta Advances Identity Protection
Spera Security helps organizations reduce risk and drive down fragmented enterprise IT and costs. Security and IT practitioners will be able to capitalize on:
- More integrations and enhanced visibility and protection
- Ongoing compliance reporting and monitoring with industry-verified Identity security benchmarks
- Broader ITDR capabilities with Identity posture management
Earlier in 2023, MSSP Alert reported Okta’s delivery of new capabilities to Okta FastPass, its phishing-resistant passwordless authenticator. The company also unveiled Identity Threat Protection with Okta AI and released Okta Privileged Access in GA.
Okta Invests in Cybersecurity Workforce Development
Okta launched an initiative during 2023 focused on finding and developing cybersecurity talent and providing equitable access to careers in technology. As part of its efforts, Okta is committing $1.6 million in philanthropic grants from the Okta Good Fund to organizations that can provide technology career opportunities to women, people of color, veterans and other jobseekers from underrepresented communities, the business said.
Some of the organizations receiving grants from Okta include:
Okta is also providing 5,000 educational grants to unemployed professionals who want to transition to a career in cybersecurity. This initiative focuses on veterans, military spouses and tech workers who have been impacted by job cuts.
Hackers Strike Okta
In October 2023, hackers stole information from users of its customer support system. Okta notified customers that hackers downloaded a report containing data including names and email addresses of all clients that use its customer support system.
