Okta announced an extension of governance capabilities to their Okta Identity Cloud this week. Coined Okta Identity Governance, the new platform is a unified identity access management (IAM) platform focused on improving security and compliance postures in organizations. 

With the frequency of cyberattacks on the rise, identity governance and administration (IGA) tools have become essential for identity-centric security ecosystems. Traditional IGA solutions, however, are falling behind the demands of today’s reliance on the cloud. According to Gartner, 50% of IGA deployments are in distress, failing to achieve functional, budgetary, or timing commitments. 

By 2023, 75% of security failures will result from inadequate management of identities, access, and privileges, according to Gartner. This figure is a jump from 50% in 2020.

Okta explained that without basic governance capabilities organizations expose themselves to risks such as complex, manual audit processes, poor end-user experience, limited visibility into user access, and inability to meet compliance needs.

Okta's new product is based on cloud-native technology principles and seeks to mitigate everyday security risks while improving IT efficiency. The unified IAM platform has three new governance capabilities — Okta Access Requests, Okta Access Certifications, and enhanced governance reports.

Okta Access Requests simplifies and automates the process of requesting and approving access to applications and resources. Self-service capabilities, collaboration tools, and auto-provision of a user’s access aid better security and compliance outcomes.

If unusual activity is detected, users can trigger a certification campaign and immediately suspend access to a resource. Okta Access Certifications can approve and revoke access automatically and periodically review access to critical resources. 

Enhanced governance reports in the extension have “out-of-the-box reporting capabilities to help meet audit and compliance requirements,” according to Okta. The feature allows administrators to build an audit report of who has access to what resources, who approved them, and how they got access. 

The Okta Access Request feature specifically aids in modernizing the traditional IGA experience for all users in an organization.

“Using natural language processing and integrating with ubiquitous tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams, Okta Access Requests meets employees where they are, delivering a simple and superior experience that every user in the organization will love,” said Okta Senior Director of Product Marketing Paresh Bhaya and Director of Product Management Vijay Pitchumani.