Okta informed customers of a hack on its customer service system that resulted in data from all clients being obtained. This news sent Okta's stock tumbling by 11%. The company had stated that only a small percentage of its clients were affected by the security breach, and the Department of Defense and other government customers utilizing a more secure environment were not impacted.
Okta, a cybersecurity firm, expressed in a letter to clients obtained by CNBC Tuesday that hackers had breached its customer support system to the extent that data from all of its users had been stolen, a far greater incursion than what the company initially believed. This has put them at higher risk of being attacked or deceived via phishing attempts. A spokesperson for Okta stated that customers who are affiliated with the Department of Defense were not affected by the breach. Okta mentioned that there is no "direct evidence" that the unidentified hackers are using the information that they stole for malicious purposes, but nearly all customers (99.6%) had their email address and full name exposed. The company's shares dropped 5% after the news, despite positive earnings and revenue reports. They are collaborating with a digital forensics team to investigate the incident in-depth and inform customers of the results. Additionally, they are planning to notify affected individuals about the data theft. Beyond this, Okta develops single sign-on programs for various businesses, which puts the company in the crosshairs of hackers; MGM and Caesars were attacked in this manner and experienced direct and indirect losses of over $100 million, including a multi-million dollar ransom payment from Caesars. Bloomberg first reported the story.
Okta initially revealed that its customer support platform had been infiltrated, asserting that the incident affected about 130 customers. Subsequently, the stock cost plunged by more than 11%, with approximately $2 billion market capitalization lost.
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