Okta expands Google Cloud partnership to secure AI agents and the browser

Okta Inc. today expanded its partnership with Google LLC’s Google Cloud with a set of integrations that bring identity governance to artificial intelligence agents and tighten security across the Chrome browser.

The deal pairs Okta’s identity layer with Google Cloud’s Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform and Chrome Enterprise. Enterprises now manage swarms of AI agents the way they once managed only human employees, and most of the work those agents and people do happens inside a browser that has become a prime target for attackers.

Okta cited research showing that 92% of executives report moderate or widespread use of AI agents, while only 34% of organizations apply the same security controls to agents that they apply to human workers. Identity-based attacks such as session hijacking rose 127% year-over-year, as attackers continue to steal post-authentication session tokens stored in the browser.

The first part of the release, available now, connects Auth0 for AI Agents to the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform Runtime. The integration lets developers embed authentication and access controls into agent workflows without custom code.

Features include Token Vault, which stores and refreshes OAuth tokens so agents can act on a user’s behalf, human-in-the-loop approval checkpoints for high-risk actions and fine-grained authorization that limits an agent to the actions its user is permitted to take. It also adds authentication to any Model Context Protocol server.

A second integration, billed as coming soon, ties Okta for AI Agents to the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform for centralized visibility and policy control. The combination is designed to import and register agents in a central directory, link each one to a human owner, and route requests through the Google Agent Gateway, which delegates real-time authentication and authorization back to Okta.

On the browser side, Okta and Chrome Enterprise are adding real-time threat response. Chrome Enterprise Universal Enrollment, available through the Okta Integration Network, lets information technology teams push enterprise policies to managed Chrome profiles on any device without syncing identity to Google. Okta also integrated its Device Assurance signals with the Chrome Device Trust Connector, allowing Chrome to block logins when a device’s antivirus is disabled or out of date.

Okta worked with Google as a design partner on Device Bound Session Credentials, an open standard that cryptographically ties a session to a single device. Stolen cookies cannot be reused on another machine, which blocks session hijacking.

“Organizations shouldn’t have to choose between the AI and productivity tools their teams want and the security their business requires,” said Okta Chief Product Officer Ely Kahn. “Okta and Google are a natural fit because we pair Google’s leading product suite with an identity layer that can work across the entire modern, AI-powered work stack.”

Vineet Bhan, Google Cloud’s global head of security and identity ISV partnerships, said securing the AI-powered enterprise requires an identity layer that runs across the core platforms behind modern work. The integrations let customers deploy AI agents in production, govern how those agents touch critical systems and keep protection in place at the browser. “Together with Okta, we’re extending that foundation across Google Cloud,” Bhan said.

The partnership builds on Okta’s recent push to position agent identity as a category in its own right, following a May expansion that opened its agent platform to rival identity providers.

Image: Okta