OKTA Interview Questions and Answers

OKTA Interview Questions and Answers from Codingcompiler – In this article we have prepared the most frequently asked OKTA Interview Questions and Answers for beginners and experienced by covering all the core areas by professionals. 

OKTA interview questions

  1. What is OKTA?
  2. What is the use of Okta?
  3. What is Okta authentication?
  4. Mention few benefits of OKTA Universal directory.
  5. How to add users in bulk in Okta?
  6. What is state token?
  7. Give names of different OKTA products.
  8. What is single sign-on? Why it is important?
  9. Define Multi-factor authentication
  10. What is OKTA universal directory?
  11. What are the benefits of OKTA Universal directory?
  12. Can admin of OKTA see passwords of any user? 
  13. What are the activities of super admins in OKTA?
  14. What is SAML?
  15. How does SAML works?

OKTA Interview Questions and Answers

1. What is OKTA?

OKTA is an application management service, developed for cloud, which ties all devices, logins and application.

2) What is the use of Okta?

Okta connects any person with any application on any device. It’s an enterprise-grade, identity management service, built for the cloud, but compatible with many on-premises applications. With Okta, IT can manage any employee’s access to any application or device.

3) What is Okta authentication?

The Okta Authentication API provides operations to authenticate users, perform multi-factor enrollment and verification, recover forgotten passwords, and unlock accounts. Primary authentication allows you to verify username and password credentials for a user.

4) Mention few benefits of OKTA Universal directory.

  • Universal Directory is the centralised place for managing all users, groups and devices from any sources. It has few benefits which make it most secure.
  • It provides group-based password policies
  • All the users and passwords are stored securely in it
  • It has also option of complexity for password policy
  • It also supports rich SAML and authorization scenarios based on different attributes.

5) How to add users in bulk in Okta?

Okta Admin can upload users in bulk by navigating to below location.

Directory → More Actions → “Import Users From CSV”

Okta also provides Realtime Sync facility to updates user profiles, groups, group members during sign-in period instead of waiting for any import.

Basic OKTA Interview Questions and Answers

6) What is state token?

state token is ephemeral token that encodes the current state of an authentication transaction. A state token is generated during the AuthN process, and gets converted to a session token once the user has been authenticated.

Ephemeral token that encodes the current state of an authentication or recovery transaction.

  • The stateToken must be passed with every request except when verifying a recoveryToken that was distributed out-of-band
  • The stateToken is only intended to be used between the web application performing end-user authentication and the Okta API. It should never be distributed to the end user via email or other out-of-band mechanisms.
  • The lifetime of the stateToken uses a sliding scale expiration algorithm that extends with every request. Always inspect the expiresAt property for the transaction when making decisions based on lifetime.

7) Give names of different OKTA products.

There are different products provided by OKTA.

  1. Single sign-on
  2. Lifecycle management
  3. Universal directory
  4. Multi-factor authentication
  5. OKTA API Products

8) What is single sign-on? Why it is important?

Single sign-on (SSO) in the enterprise refers to the ability for employees to log in just one time with one set of credentials to get access to all corporate apps, websites, and data for which they have permission. 

SSO solves key problems for the business by providing: 

  • Greater security and compliance.
  • Improved usability and employee satisfaction.
  • Lower IT costs.

9) Define Multi-factor authentication.

Multi-factor Authentication provides different ways to implement various factors of authentication across usability and assurance levels.  Different factors are described as below:

  1. Knowledge: It depends on users’ knowledge
  2. Possession: It depends on something users have
  3. Biometric: It depends on something which user is.

10) What is OKTA universal directory?

Okta’s Universal Directory allows you to store an unlimited amount of users and attributes from applications and sources like AD or HR systems.

Universal Directory delivers rich user profiles and fine-grained control over how attributes are exchanged between applications. Universal Directory makes it easier for organizations to create and maintain a single source of truth for its users, enabling new authentication and provisioning scenarios

Top OKTA Interview Questions and Answers For Experienced

11) What are the benefits of OKTA Universal directory?

Benefits of OKTA Universal directory is 

  • Store rich profiles of user attributes in Okta.
  • Customize and extend user and app profiles with custom attributes.
  • Bi-directionally map and move attributes from Okta to applications.
  • Transform attributes using a powerful and intuitive Expression Language before storing them in Okta.

These capabilities enable you to do the following:

  • Synchronize user profile information across cloud HR systems, on-premise directory systems and applications.
  • Provision application user accounts with rich profile information such as roles, managers, geo-locations and other attributes that aid in configuring complex authentication and authorization rules.
  • Collect, import and store any type of user attribute, including externally defined custom attributes.

12) Can admin of OKTA see passwords of any user? 

No Passwords are not visible to anyone. OKTA Admin can only see username of any user.

13) What are the activities of super admins in OKTA?

Only Super Admins can view and manage other adminAn abbreviation of administrator. This is the individual(s) who have access to the Okta Administrator Dashboard. They control the provisioning and deprovisioning of end users, the assigning of apps, the resetting of passwords, and the overall end user experience.

14) What is SAML?

A: Security Assertion Markup Language is an open standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between parties, in particular, between an identity provider and a service provider. SAML is an XML-based markup language for security assertions.

15) How does SAML works?

A : SAML sets the secure environment between different organizations. To communicate seamlessly, identity provider and service provider needs to implement SAML. Once SAML has been set up, when user tries to access SP, IDP will authenticate user. SP will confirm and assures that message is coming from the trusted IDP and registers a session with app for user.

Advanced OKTA Interview Questions and Answers

16) Why to use SAML?

A : SAML has many benefits for individual user, identity provider, and service provider.

  • It saves time from administrative tasks like password resets etc.
  • It increases security 
  • It also increases usage by reducing barriers to entry.

17) Why to use SAML?

In the modern era of computing, security is of the utmost importance when it comes to enterprise applications. SAML is used to provide a single point of authentication at a secure identity provider, meaning that user credentials never leave the firewall boundary, and then SAML is used to assert the identity to others.

SAML has been widely adopted for three primary reasons: 

  1. Standardized,
  2. Secure and
  3. Provides an excellent user experience.

18) What is the difference between SCIM connector and server?

SCIM is the System for Cross-domain Identity Management. SCIM is used to connect Okta to on-premises applications. Communication between Okta and on-premises applications occurs through the Okta Provisioning Agent and a SCIM server or a provisioning connector built using Provisioning Connector SDK.

19)  How can I obtain a list of all the users who are assigned to applications? Is there any way to download all users or groups from Okta?

A : All users and groups can’t be located at one place. 80% of them will be found in system logs and reports. Users permissions can be found in Security → Administrators directory.

  • in the Okta Admin console, navigate to Reports > Reports
  • in the Application Access Audit section, click Current Assignments
  • to filter the list by application, enter the application name in the Application field and click Run Report
  • to export the list, click Download CSV in the upper-right corner of the results table

20) How long SMS(OTP) is valid for multi-factor authentication? Can we edit it?

SMS(OTP) is valid only for 5 minutes. We cannot modify it. Timeout is not configurable as of now in Okta MFA.

OKTA Interview Questions Prepared By Experts

21) Can we enter multiple mobile numbers in Okta MFA?

SMS(OTP) is valid only for 5 minutes. We cannot modify it. Timeout is not configurable as of now in Okta MFA.

22) How do I enable MFA in Okta?

You must enable MFA from the Admin interface of your Okta org before you can use it from the Okta API. Here is how to enable MFA for your Okta org:

  1. Log in to your Okta org as a user with administration.
  2. Click the “Admin” button to get into the administrator interface.
  3. Open the “Security” menu.
  4. Select “Authentication” from the menu.
  5. Click on “Multifactor”.
  6. Click the “Edit” button in the “Factor Types” section.
  7. Check the check boxes next to “Google Authenticator” and “SMS Authentication”.
  8. Click the green “Save” button.

23) Can Okta MFA allow multiple phone numbers?
No, Okta does not currently support this.

24) How do I reset my Okta MFA?

To reset your MFA, login to your Okta org on a computer or mobile device. Click on your username in the top menu, and select the ‘Settings’ menu item. Go to the Extra Verification section, and select Setup or Reset, next to the MFA Factor that you want to setup or reset. Enter the required information and save.

25) What is OKTA verify for end users?

Okta Verify is an MFA factor developed by Okta. Use it to verify your identity so you can sign in to your organization securely.

Whenever you sign in to your Okta account, you need to confirm who you are by using the Okta Verify app on your phone. Confirming your identity allows Okta to sign you in to your account securely.

26) Can we give priority to password policies?

A : Universal directory provides group password policies, where any policy having higher priority over others will take precedence.

27) How do I set up Okta SSO?

Setting Up a SAML Application in Okta

  1. Log in to your Okta organization as a user with administrative privileges. …
  2. Click on the Applications link in the upper navigation bar.
  3. Click on the green Create New App button.
  4. In the dialog that opens, select the “SAML 2.0” option, then click the green “Create” button.

28) How to Configure SAML in Okta?

A: Here is the steps to configure the SAML settings of your SAML Service Provider app in Okta, follow these steps using the information that you gathered in the first step:

  1. On the SAML Settings page, paste the ACS URL into the Single sign on URL field.
  2. Paste the Audience URI into the Audience URI (SP Entity ID) field.
  3. Select the Name ID format and Application username that your application requires (for example, EmailAddress and Email) or leave the defaults.
  4. In the ATTRIBUTE STATEMENTS (OPTIONAL) section, add the required SAML attributes for your app.

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