Okta and Proofpoint partner to add strong authentication to phishing prevention

Cybersecurity and compliance company Proofpoint and Okta have formed a technology partnership to provide enterprises with a cloud-based automated incident response offering to combat email credential phishing attacks.

Proofpoint’s Threat Response Auto-Pull (TRAP) is integrated with the Okta Identity Cloud to provide additional authentication layers to protect accounts if a phishing link is opened. Biometric options for those layers include BSI’s biometric MFA password solution, which was extended to Okta customers earlier this year. The companies say the partnership makes security orchestration easier and offers a better user experience for incident responders, security analysts, and system administrators.

“Credential phishing is an Achilles heel for many organizations because most phishing links are hosted on compromised, legitimate websites with good reputations. Clever attackers even wait until after an email has passed through the gateway and into a user’s inbox before changing the content of the site to a page designed to steal usernames and passwords,” said Ryan Kalember, senior vice president of Cybersecurity Strategy for Proofpoint. “We can detect these phishing sites when a user clicks on them, but containing the risk requires valuable time and security resources. Our Okta partnership helps organizations automatically ensure that users who clicked on these malicious links don’t have their accounts accessed by attackers.”

TRAP enables administrators to quarantine messages after delivery, and tracks forwarded mail and distribution lists to create an auditable trail.

“Working together, Okta and Proofpoint can help security teams to get the greatest value from their existing technology investments, by assisting with credential phishing attack detection and rapid response,” said Chuck Fontana, vice president of Integrations and Strategic Partnerships, Okta. “Email continues to be the number one threat vector and credential phishing attacks are flooding organizations worldwide. We are committed to helping global teams manage and secure their extended enterprise, and combining Okta and Proofpoint’s best-in-class solutions provides an additional layer of security to detect and mitigate potential malicious activities.”

Article Topics

authentication  |  biometrics  |  credentials  |  cybersecurity  |  Okta