Looking back at 2021, it seems like a lot happened in identity and access management space. Some big news, some happy news and unfortunately some sad news, too. Let’s have a look at a few.
Okta acquires Auth0 for a whopping $6.5B
In March 2021 Okta announced the completion of acquisition of Auth0. Okta, as an IDaaS solution was heavily focused on workforce use case (B2E) and decided to complement their offering with CIAM from Auth0, which also is an IDaaS solution ran in cloud. You can read more here.
Forgerock goes public
On Sep 16th Forgerock joins NYSE and surges on debut raising $275 million on a valuation of $2 billion. It has hit a high of $37.35 before closing regular trading at $36.50. Unfortunately the shares started going down soon after to as low as $21.46 on 16th of December, but the analysts still see Forgerock as a strong buy with a forecast for as high as $39 by Oct 2022. You can read more from the vendor here.
Ping Identity named a leader in Gartner’s IAM report for a 5th consecutive year
The Magic Quadrant is designed to help companies make the right choices amongst vendors (not just in IAM space). Companies are evaluated based on completeness of vision and their ability to execute. The Leaders quadrant is a very desirable place to be not only from the prestige perspective, but let’s be honest… it’s a revenue enabler. It’s quite an accomplishment for Ping Identity to thrive in that space, but it was a surprise to perhaps only a few. With the release of PingOne Advanced Services, PingOne Risk and the near-unlimited ability to flex PingFederate to behave the way you need, it’s a full package with a great track record. Read more here.
Auth0 makes it to the ‘Leaders’ quadrant in Gartner’s IAM report
Finally and well deserved. Let’s be honest – it wasn’t just for Okta acquisition, Auth0 have their own dot in the Leaders quadrant. I have been observing their journey over the last 3 years and I bet a least a few folk I know in Auth0 were over the moon when they reached the stardom. It was inevitable, as they had a great ability to execute, but lacked in completeness of vision, which actually at the level they were executing was a good thing, because it indicated they were doing things well and are not rushing. The company is growing rapidly, let’s not forget they got their unicorn status. Check the press release here.
Thycotic merges with Centrify
In another big merger, Thycotic and Centrify join forces to lead in privileged access solutions in cloud. Thycotic is a provider of PAM solutions to more than 10000 organisations worldwide. Their Secret Server offering is running on-prem or in cloud. Check the press release here.
Ping Identity launches cutting edge anti-fraud solution
PingOne Fraud (would prefer them to call it anti-fraud), formerly known as SecuredTouch provides on-line fraud detection capability by looking at malicious and out of recognised, standard pattern behaviour. You can call it behavioural biometrics, which is a form of an extension of risk based authentication provided in the previous year by PingOne Risk. It’s very effective and may well be that last line of defence against sophisticated credentials attacks combined with advanced attempts to hack or bypass 2FA devices. I know at least a few other vendors who had their eyes on SecuredTouch, so congratulations PingIdentity for making it a part of your comprehensive offering.
Rest in peace Kim Cameron
The father of the 7 Laws of identity has lost his battle with cancer on the 30th of November. Kim was a well known persona in the IAM world and many will remember him as the identity visionary and thought leader, contributor to industry standards or supporter of decentralised identity. LinkedIn and other social media experienced a surge of sympathy messages from all over the world. He was a friend of many, who was taken from this world too early.