Okta CEO Talks AWS Outages, Growing AI Threats

Summary

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Podcast Summary:

Bloomberg Talks – Okta CEO Talks AWS Outages, Growing AI Threats
Date: October 20, 2025
Host: Bloomberg
Guest: Todd McKinnon (CEO, Okta)

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Main Theme

This episode centers on the crucial role of identity management in today’s rapidly evolving cloud and AI landscape, highlighted by recent AWS outages and the proliferation of AI-enabled threats. Okta CEO Todd McKinnon discusses how his company addresses reliability, security, and adaptability for organizations navigating a surging demand for cloud and AI-driven services.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Impact of AWS Outages and Reliability in Cloud Services

• AWS Outage Context: The episode opens by referencing a significant AWS outage, underscoring the vulnerability and importance of critical cloud infrastructure.
• Okta’s Perspective on Reliability:
  • McKinnon asserts Okta’s focus on being the “identity infrastructure” for enterprises, consumers, and AI agents:

    "We're building this identity service for the entire world, whether that's enterprises, consumers, or people building agents. We want to be that identity infrastructure." (00:54, Todd McKinnon)

  • Building Reliability:
    • Implementation of redundancy, extensive backups, and constant monitoring form Okta’s bedrock for reliability.

      "A lot of redundancy, and a lot of focus and a lot of making sure we do exactly what customers expect, whether it's backups, redundancy and monitoring it continuously." (01:21, Todd McKinnon)

2. Okta’s Growth & Global Workforce

• Rapid Expansion:
  • Okta now employs 6,000 people globally, with 800 in San Francisco, reflecting the company's robust growth.

    "6,000 global employees doing a great job for our customers every day." (01:37, Todd McKinnon)

3. Okta’s Unique Security Pitch

• Identity-Centric Focus:
  • In contrast with vendors offering broad stack security, Okta zeroes in on identity verification – ensuring every user, be it employee, customer, or AI agent, is securely managed.

    "We focus on identity... And now really with AI agents, we make sure that that identity service is continuous across everything you're trying to automate in your business with AI, too." (01:49, Todd McKinnon)

  • Interoperability: The platform connects to all other tech stack parts, ensuring flexibility for customers.

4. The AI Agent Surge & Security Considerations

• Trends & Future Growth:
  • Okta anticipates significant expansion in AI agents within the next year, seeing it as transformative for business efficiency and cost.

    "It's starting out very strong but it's going to be growing significantly... how they can improve their top line revenue, how they can cut costs, how they can be more efficient, how they can serve their customers better, it's got tremendous potential." (02:32, Todd McKinnon)

• AI-Driven Identity Needs:
  • Widespread deployment of AI solutions (e.g., chatbots) fuels the requirement for secure, reliable identity services as automation takes front seat.

    "When every company looks at [ChatGPT], they think, hey, we can make our customer experience better... it's really driving them to deploy, deploy, deploy more technology and that means more identity is required." (02:57, Todd McKinnon)

5. The “Land Grab” in AI Identity

• Competitive Landscape:
  • McKinnon positions identity management as essential to the broader AI agent revolution, giving customers choice and adaptability.

    "It's really important that everyone understands how important identity management is to rolling [out] AI and agents." (03:32, Todd McKinnon)

  • Okta’s Core Value:
    • Allowing customers freedom to adapt backend platforms without sacrificing governance or security.

6. Industry Consolidation & Ecosystem Strategy

• Reactions to Rival Partnerships (Google-Wiz-Palo Alto-CyberArk):
  • Okta’s philosophy objects to the industry trend of vertical cybersecurity consolidation, instead advocating for best-of-breed, interoperable identity platforms.

    "We think the right approach is to consolidate on identity because it preserves the choice of other cyber tools for customers. They're not locked into one endpoint tool or one network security tool." (04:14, Todd McKinnon)

  • Customers benefit from cost reduction, standardization, and the freedom to choose top solutions as threats evolve.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the AWS Outage:

  "Cloud infrastructure is one critical service... It’s important for cybersecurity, it's important for business continuity and it has to be reliable." (00:54, Todd McKinnon)

• On Okta’s Identity-First Approach:

  "We focus on verifying who the people are in your company, who the people are coming to your website as customers or prospects. And now really with AI agents we make sure that that identity service is continuous across everything you're trying to automate." (01:49, Todd McKinnon)

• On what Sets Okta Apart in a Competitive Field:

  "We give our customers the ability to make sure they have security, governance and visibility and then let them choose the rapidly evolving platforms behind the scenes to whatever fits their needs." (03:43, Todd McKinnon)

• On Industry Consolidation:

  "The ability to choose the best cyber tool and not be locked into a stack from one monolithic vendor is very powerful and it's resonating with our customers." (04:14, Todd McKinnon)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:18] — AWS Outage Context and Okta’s Response
• [01:21] — Ensuring Reliability in Identity Services
• [01:49] — Okta’s Core Focus & Differentiator
• [02:32] — Anticipated Growth in AI Agents
• [02:57] — ChatGPT, AI Growth, and Identity Demands
• [03:32] — The Crucial “Land Grab” for AI Identity
• [04:14] — Okta’s View on Industry Consolidation

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Conclusion

The episode paints a compelling portrait of how identity management is evolving into a pivotal lever for organizational security and innovation, especially as companies race to integrate AI and weather the volatility of cloud platforms like AWS. McKinnon makes a clear case for Okta's differentiated approach—centering on identity, providing choice, and prioritizing reliability in an ever-shifting technology landscape.

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Transcript

[Indiana University Announcer]

Indiana University is shaping the future of healthcare, advancing discoveries that become treatments for Alzheimer's, obesity and cancer and training the providers trusted to deliver them. See how IU solves what's next IU Edu Impact.

[Bloomberg Host]

Bloomberg Audio Studios Podcasts Radio News AWS says services are back up and running this morning's outage underscoring though the need for cybersecurity. Well, enter Okta as one player. The company says its business has grown alongside the acceleration of cloud services. It now says it's on the lookout for rising AI enabled threats. Joining me now is Todd McKinnon, Okta CEO. Look, anyone can have an outage, but if you're providing cloud services for 30% of, you know, corporate America and beyond, it's a little concerning. What went through your head when you saw this this morning, Todd?

[Todd McKinnon]

Well, I think about the world as layered into different critical services. Cloud infrastructure is one critical service and as the lean independent identity company, we're building this identity service for the entire world, whether that's enterprises, whether that's consumers, whether that's people building agents. We want to be that identity infrastructure. It's important for cybersecurity, it's important for business continuity and it has to be reliable.

[Bloomberg Host]

So how do you make sure that it's reliable then?

[Todd McKinnon]

A lot of redundancy and a lot of focus and a lot of making sure we do exactly what customers expect, whether it's backups, redundancy and monitoring it continuously. It's very important for us.

[Bloomberg Host]

Now you are growing very, very substantially. What you've 800 people in San Francisco and how many thousand around the world?

[Todd McKinnon]

6,000 global employees doing a great job for our customers every day.

[Bloomberg Host]

Well, love to hear it and how I hope they are. How fast are you adding customers and what's your pitch versus another security identity security company?

[Todd McKinnon]

Yeah, it's interesting perspective we have and there's different perspectives on some vendors want to sell you everything across the entire application and platform stack. Some vendors want to sell you everything across cybersecurity. We focus on identity and we focus on verifying who the people are in your company, who the people are coming to your website as customers or prospects. And now really with AI agents we make sure that that identity services is continuous across everything you're trying to automate in your business with AI too. And that's our focus and we beyond that we focus on connecting to everything else in the technology stack and letting our customers choose what they want to use.

[Bloomberg Host]

What is the scale of AI agents Okta expects in the next 12 months.

[Todd McKinnon]

It'S, it's starting out very strong but it's going to be growing significantly. When you think about what companies can automate with these agents, how they can improve their top line revenue, how they can cut costs, how they can be more efficient, how they can serve their customers better, it's, it's got tremendous potential.

[Bloomberg Host]

What about your exposure to chat user growth? You know, how much of that do you have and how is it changing how you do business?

[Todd McKinnon]

Well, I think chat CBT is a, is the perfect example of how much can be automated with AI. And when every company looks at that, they think, hey, we can make our customer experience better with adding chatbots like capabilities we can make our employees more productive. So it's really driving them to deploy, to deploy, deploy, deploy more technology and that means more identity is required. Those connections have to be secure, those connections have to be reliable. So it's really exciting time for the industry.

[Bloomberg Host]

Is it still in the land grab phase? And if that's the case, which I think, I think it is, then how do you make sure that you're the one doing the grabbing?

[Todd McKinnon]

Well, I think it's really important that everyone understands how important identity management is to rolling AI and agents.

[Bloomberg Host]

I mean they only need one person to manage their identity, right?

[Todd McKinnon]

Well, it's important that the identity service connects to everything. It connects to every application in the back end, every development platform. One of the things about AI agents particularly is how you build these things is changing very rapidly. So we give our customers the ability to make sure they have security, governance and visibility and then let them choose the rapidly evolving platforms behind the scenes to whatever fits their needs. That's really core to everything we do. That choice and that flexibility.

[Bloomberg Host]

What did the Google Wiz Palo Alto Cyber Arc deal mean for you?

[Todd McKinnon]

Well, it's a different worldview. I think companies try to consolidate around everything in cyber. We think that that's not the right approach. We think the right approach is to consolidate on identity because it preserves the choice of other cyber tools for customers. They're not locked into one endpoint tool or one network security tool. They can choose whatever is best for their business and will keep them more secure, especially as the threat environment is rapidly evolving. The ability to choose the best cyber tool and not be locked into a stack from one monolithic vendor is very powerful and it's resonating with our customers. They cut costs and standardize their identity workflows and use cases around, around Okta and then choose everything else around the rest of cyber to best fit their needs.

[Bloomberg Host]

All right, well, thank you so much for coming in today. Todd. That is Todd McKinnon, CEO of Okta.

[Indiana University Announcer]

Indiana University is shaping the future of healthcare advancing discoveries that become treatments for Alzheimer's, obesity, cancer, and other rare and complex diseases. And training the next generation of providers, doctors and nurses trusted to address health challenges with skill, compassion and purpose. From the lab to the clinic, from research teams to patient care, IU talent is driving medical innovation, improving health outcomes and strengthening communities. See how IU solves. What's next? Iu Edu Impact.

[Todd McKinnon]

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[Todd McKinnon]

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