States of Kansas and Iowa Leverage Okta as Identity Standard to Combat Fraud and Provide Citizens Secure Access to Critical Online Services
Okta, Inc. (NASDAQ:OKTA), the leading independent identity provider, today announced continued expansion in the public sector with new deployments for the states of Kansas and Iowa. Okta also announced financial results for its first quarter of fiscal year 2022, as well as new global customers and expanded partnerships including Essilor Group, HERE, ImmoScout24, Slack Technologies, Western Health and Western Union.
Public sector organizations need a seamless and secure way to digitally connect with their citizens, and the shift to hybrid work models has accelerated this need,” said Susan St. Ledger, President of Worldwide Field Operations, Okta. “The State of Kansas leveraged the Okta Identity Cloud to provide a secure experience for Kansans filing unemployment claims. Similarly, the State of Iowa relied on the Okta Identity Cloud to provide citizens with simplified access to critical online services and manage sensitive data for thousands of state employees. At Okta, we’re proud to support public sector agencies as they transition to modern technology platforms while keeping critical information secure and accessible for employees and citizens.”
Kansas Department of Labor prevents fraudulent unemployment claims
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kansas Department of Labor (KDOL) has seen a rapid increase in claims for unemployment and federal pandemic programs. Unfortunately, with this uptick in filings came a record amount of fraud.
In an effort to secure its systems, protect customer data, and ensure that Kansans receive their unemployment benefits in a timely manner, KDOL recognized it needed to replace its legacy systems to provide a modern identity solution.
KDOL deployed Okta’s Customer Identity products and leveraged Okta ThreatInsight to thwart bot attacks and prevent fraudsters from entering the system with geo-fencing and ID proofing. With the Okta Identity Cloud, KDOL has stopped over 7.68 million bots and fraudulent login attempts.
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“The Okta platform enabled the Kansas Department of Labor to quickly deploy a full-featured robust claimant identification system. Once implemented, our agency was able to focus on processing legitimate claims for Kansans in need,” said Kelly Johnson, Chief Information Officer, Kansas Department of Labor. “Our work to prevent fraudulent claims is still ongoing. However, with Okta, verification happens at the very first step of our process and we have been able to significantly reduce the number of fraudulent claims that come through our systems.”
The State of Iowa modernizes systems for citizens and workforces
With the sudden shift to remote work in March 2020, the State of Iowa needed to swiftly replace its legacy systems with a secure, modern identity solution in response to the COVID-19 pandemic for state agencies and their 25,000 employees. The state’s goal was to find a solution that accelerated its digital teleworking initiatives and aided in COVID-19 response. Iowa implemented Okta as the identity standard across its agency platforms.
In order to provide critical resources, Iowa deployed Okta’s Customer Identity products to seamlessly and securely connect its citizens to online services starting with a new rental and utility assistance program for those impacted by COVID-19.
This expansion is instrumental in supporting Iowa’s goal to provide its three million citizens with easy access to all state agency services with a single username and password. “With Okta’s Customer Identity, we have been able to provide a simplified experience for the people of Iowa as they work with our state agencies to obtain much needed relief,” said Annette Dunn, Chief Information Officer, Iowa.
Similarly, Okta’s pre-built integrations helped Iowa move quickly in its initial deployment to 36 state agencies. At the conclusion of the project, all branches of Iowa government will be utilizing Okta. With Okta, Iowa now provides state employees simplified and secure access to state systems in a teleworking environment, empowering them to focus their time and resources on supporting citizens during the pandemic.
“We viewed last year’s shift to teleworking as not only a challenge, but an opportunity to streamline and secure our legacy systems,” said Dunn. “Okta gave us the tools to securely connect our employees to the systems they need to better serve their communities.”
Continued momentum for Okta
In its first quarter of fiscal year 2022, Okta grew its total customers to more than 10,650 organizations. This customer growth is part of continued momentum for the company, which includes recent product innovations and an expanded leadership team.
At Oktane21, the company announced its expansion into the Identity Governance and Privileged Access Management markets, as well as the Okta Starter Developer Edition, a new Customer Identity Risk Ecosystem, and a commitment to 100% renewable electricity by 2022.
In addition, Okta recently welcomed Steve Rowland as Chief Revenue Officer, Kendall Collins as Chief Marketing Officer, and Steve Dodenhoff as SVP of Worldwide Partners and Alliances. In the second quarter of fiscal year 2022, Okta completed its acquisition of Auth0.
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