Okta has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire AI security startup Permiso Security, a move that strengthens the identity management company's capabilities in protecting organisations against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats involving human users, machine identities and AI agents. The acquisition reflects the growing importance of identity security as enterprises accelerate the deployment of generative AI and autonomous AI systems across business operations.
While the companies have not disclosed the financial terms of the transaction, reports indicate the deal is valued at approximately $200 million. The acquisition is expected to close during Okta's third fiscal quarter, subject to customary closing conditions, and will be funded through the company's existing cash reserves.
Founded in 2020, Permiso Security specialises in identity detection and response, helping organisations monitor and secure privileged access across cloud environments. Its platform is designed to detect identity-based attacks targeting employees, service accounts, machine identities and increasingly AI-powered software agents. The company's technology analyses identity behaviour to identify suspicious activity, helping security teams respond before attackers gain deeper access to enterprise systems.
The acquisition comes as AI agents emerge as a new category of digital identities within enterprises. Unlike traditional software, AI agents can independently access systems, retrieve information, execute workflows and interact with applications, creating new security challenges for organisations. Industry analysts note that these autonomous systems require the same level of identity governance and access control as human employees.
Okta has increasingly positioned identity as the foundation of enterprise AI security. Earlier this year, the company highlighted that AI agents are becoming "a new workforce inside every organisation," creating a rapidly expanding population of non-human identities that must be authenticated, authorised and continuously monitored. The company has also invested in new identity governance capabilities to help enterprises manage AI-powered environments securely.
By integrating Permiso's technology into its platform, Okta aims to strengthen its Identity Threat Detection and Response capabilities. The combined solution is expected to provide customers with improved visibility into identity-related risks while enabling faster detection of compromised credentials, privilege escalation attempts and malicious activity across cloud infrastructure.
Cybersecurity experts have observed a sharp increase in identity-focused attacks as organisations migrate workloads to the cloud and adopt AI-powered automation. Rather than exploiting software vulnerabilities alone, attackers increasingly target privileged credentials, API keys, machine identities and service accounts that provide access to sensitive enterprise systems. The rapid growth of AI agents is expected to further expand the identity attack surface, increasing demand for advanced monitoring and threat detection technologies.
The acquisition also aligns with Okta's broader strategy of expanding beyond authentication into comprehensive identity security. Over the past few years, the company has introduced privileged access management, identity governance and AI-driven security capabilities while forming partnerships with leading cybersecurity providers. These investments reflect growing enterprise demand for integrated identity platforms capable of securing users, applications, devices and automated systems from a single control layer.
Industry observers believe the Permiso acquisition highlights a broader shift in cybersecurity, where identity has become the central focus of enterprise security architectures. As AI-powered workloads become more common, protecting non-human identities is expected to become as critical as safeguarding employee credentials.
For enterprises, the combination of Okta's identity platform and Permiso's threat detection technology could provide stronger protection against increasingly sophisticated identity-based attacks while improving visibility across hybrid cloud environments. As organisations continue adopting AI agents and autonomous workflows, identity security is likely to play an even greater role in securing digital operations and ensuring trusted AI deployment.