Okta markets itself as "The World's #1 Identity Platform," but today the company is investigating a digital breach that could impact thousands of companies.
As Reuters reports, hackers from the LAPSUS$ group posted screenshots of the company's internal environment, suggesting they have gained access to it. As Okta manages secure user authentication for more than 15,000 global brands around the world, such a breach is a nightmare scenario for both Okta and all the companies it counts as customers.
Chris Hollis, Senior Manager, Security and Crisis Communications at Okta, confirmed the investigation is underway, but also pointed out that this may be related to an incident the company managed to contain earlier this year. Back in January, there was an attempt to compromise the account of a third-party customer support engineer. Hollis explained:
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"We believe the screenshots shared online are connected to this January event. Based on our investigation to date, there is no evidence of ongoing malicious activity beyond the activity detected in January."
The LAPSUS$ hacking group is causing serious headaches for a number of large organizations. They have successfully infiltrated Nvidia, Samsung, and potentially Microsoft, too. However, now Okta seems to be their main focus due to the treasure trove of company information it has access to. A post on the LAPSUS$ Telegram channel late yesterday stated the group is focusing its efforts on Okta customers.
We now await the conclusion of Okta's investigation and will update our coverage if and when the severity of this breach is confirmed.