Okta Policies and Policy Configuration

Okta policies are designed to manage and control access to applications, APIs, and other organizational resources. They enable administrators to define authentication requirements, access conditions, and security controls that help protect resources while providing users with appropriate access.

Whenever a user or application attempts to access a resource, Okta evaluates the applicable policies and their associated rules to determine whether access should be granted, denied, or challenged with additional authentication requirements. Policies are highly customizable and can be tailored to meet an organization's security, compliance, and operational needs.

Policies are assigned to groups rather than directly to individual users. As a result, users inherit the policies associated with the groups to which they belong, allowing administrators to manage access efficiently at scale.

Global Session Policy

The Global Session Policy governs how users access and interact with Okta. It defines session-related controls such as sign-in requirements, session lifetime, re-authentication frequency, and multi-factor authentication (MFA) requirements. These settings help ensure that user sessions remain secure while maintaining a balance between security and user experience.

Authentication Policies

Authentication Policies determine the verification requirements users must satisfy when accessing applications integrated with Okta. These policies can enforce security measures based on factors such as user group membership, device trust, network location, risk level, and authentication method. Depending on the configured rules, users may be required to provide additional verification, such as MFA, before access is granted.

Together, Global Session Policies and Authentication Policies form the foundation of Okta's access management framework, enabling organizations to enforce consistent security controls while delivering secure and seamless access to resources.

In authentication policies, an additional policy that requires unique configuration are password policies.