6 Okta security settings you might have overlooked

In today’s SaaS-first organizations, identity providers like Okta hold the digital keys to the kingdom. As organizations continue to consolidate their authentication through SSO platforms like Okta, securing these identity systems has never been more critical.

Recent high-profile breaches targeting identity infrastructure have demonstrated that even sophisticated organizations can fall victim to attacks that exploit misconfigurations or weak security settings.

The challenge isn’t just implementing Okta—it’s maintaining a strong security posture over time. As your organization evolves, security configurations can drift, new vulnerabilities emerge, and best practices change.

What worked six months ago may no longer be sufficient to protect against today’s threats.

This article outlines six fundamental Okta security best practices that form the backbone of a resilient identity security program.

Beyond implementing these settings, continuous security posture monitoring for Okta (and the rest of your SaaS ecosystem) with a tool like Nudge Security can help you stay ahead of emerging threats and maintain a robust security posture as your environment grows and changes.

With that, let’s dive in to the six essential Okta security configurations that should be on every security practitioner’s check list: ‍ 

1. Password policies

Strong password policies are foundational to any identity security posture program. Okta allows administrators to enforce robust password requirements including:

• Minimum length and complexity requirements 

• Password history and age restrictions

• Common password checks to prevent easily guessable passwords 

To configure password requirements in Okta: Navigate to Security > Authentication > Password Settings in the Okta Admin Console. ‍

 2. Phishing-resistant 2FA enforcement

With phishing attacks becoming increasingly sophisticated, implementing phishing-resistant two-factor authentication on Okta accounts is crucial, especially for privileged admin accounts. Okta supports various strong authentication methods including:

• WebAuthn/FIDO2 security keys

• Biometric authentication

• Okta Verify with device trust ‍ 

To configure MFA factors: Go to Security > Multifactor > Factor Enrollment > Edit > Set factor to required, optional, or disabled. ‍

Also, to enforce MFA for all admin console users, refer to this Okta help doc. ‍ 

3. Okta ThreatInsight

Okta ThreatInsight leverages machine learning to detect and block suspicious authentication attempts. This feature: 

• Identifies and blocks malicious IP addresses

• Prevents credential stuffing attacks

• Reduces the risk of account takeovers ‍ 

To configure: Enable ThreatInsight under Security > General > Okta ThreatInsight settings. For more, refer to this Okta help doc. ‍ 

4. Admin session ASN binding

This security feature helps prevent session hijacking by binding administrative sessions to specific Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs). When enabled:

• Admin sessions are tied to the original ASN used during authentication

• Session attempts from different ASNs are blocked

• Risk of unauthorized admin access is significantly reduced

To configure: Access Security > General > Admin Session Settings and enable ASN Binding. ‍ 

5. Session Lifetime Settings

Properly configured session lifetimes help minimize the risk of unauthorized access through abandoned or hijacked sessions. Consider implementing:

• Short session timeouts for highly privileged accounts

• Maximum session lengths based on risk level

• Automatic session termination after periods of inactivity ‍ 

To configure: Navigate to Security > Authentication > Session Settings to adjust session lifetime parameters. ‍ 

6. Behavior rules

Okta behavior rules provide an extra layer of security by:

• Detecting anomalous user behavior patterns

• Triggering additional authentication steps when suspicious activity is detected

• Allowing customized responses to potential security threats 

To configure: Access Security > Behavior Detection Rules to set up and customize behavior-based security policies. ‍

How Nudge Security can help

Maintaining a strong security posture across your identity infrastructure and SaaS ecosystem becomes increasingly complex as your organization grows. This is where SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) solutions like Nudge Security provide significant value.

Nudge Security offers Okta security posture management as part of a comprehensive SaaS security and governance solution and automatically detects common Okta security misconfigurations including those listed above.

With a free trial of Nudge Security, you can:

• Get a full inventory of shadow SaaS and AI in minutes

• Find and resolve gaps in SSO and MFA coverage

• See where OAuth grants enable data-sharing across apps

• Find and revoke lingering access of former employees for apps not managed in SSO

Learn more and start your free 14-day trial.

Sponsored and written by Nudge Security.