CNBC Television · Sep 23, 2026
With Todd McKinnon, Co-founder and CEO of Okta
Okta is building a coalition with Amazon, Google, Salesforce, ServiceNow and CrowdStrike to agree on how companies should track and shut down AI agents, Todd McKinnon said.
Security vendors are each telling customers they alone can protect them from rogue AI. McKinnon told the same customers that no single vendor can, and that the industry needs a shared blueprint instead, including a common way to cut off an agent that goes wrong.
"The reality is that every layer of the tech stack is becoming agents."
Todd McKinnon, co-founder and CEO of Okta, on CNBC Television. Okta sells identity security, which decides which people and systems can reach a company's data, and it is launching an expanded kill switch for AI agents.
The full segment is covered here so you can skip it.
Here are the 4 arguments that matter.
Key Takeaways
Companies are being forced to choose between locking data away from AI and connecting everything to it
OpenAI did not know its system was connected to the internet, in his account of the Hugging Face hack
No single vendor can secure AI agents, because every layer of the tech stack is turning into them
His blueprint starts with a central directory of every agent a company runs
An industry kill switch would cut an agent's connections when it strays from its task
There is no magic answer, he said, only knowing what each system is connected to and what it is allowed to do
1. Security or Innovation
The host opened on Okta's launch: new tools to help companies manage rogue AI, an expanded kill switch, and a coalition with AWS and Google Cloud to write a blueprint for securing AI agents. Asked how Okta's approach differs from CrowdStrike's and Palo Alto Networks', McKinnon described a choice he said the industry is being pushed into.
Companies are forced to trade security against the benefits of AI
Well, the issue in the industry right now is that we're being forced to make this trade off between security on one hand, where we lock all the data down and don't let AI have access to anything and don't get the benefit.
Todd McKinnon
The other option, he said, is to connect everything and then deal with "some of these scary headlines we're all talking about." Okta's answer is what he called a "blueprint alliance," which brings Amazon, Google, Salesforce, ServiceNow, CrowdStrike and others together to give customers visibility into and control over their AI systems.
OpenAI's hack came from a gap in visibility, he said
If you look at these hacks, if you look at the OpenAI Hugging Face hack, the issue was that OpenAI didn't know the system was connected to the internet.
Todd McKinnon
OpenAI lacked the visibility and control it needed, he said. If industry partners build a transparent system for both, companies can get innovation and security together.
2. No Magic Answer
The host asked whether anything could have controlled what happened in the Hugging Face incident. McKinnon said the systems are dynamic and are being built in different ways.
He said no single fix exists
So there's no magic answer.
Todd McKinnon
What he offered instead was a principle: every party involved should know what each AI system is connected to and what it has permission to do.
Knowing connections and permissions comes first
But this fundamental principle of making sure all the parties, all the players involved, know what the systems are connected to and know what permissions they have. That's the foundation.
Todd McKinnon
On that base, he said, a company can build a system that scales and delivers both innovation and security.
3. Competition Is Confusion
The host noted that every security company is now trying to secure AI agents and asked what sets Okta apart. McKinnon said Okta's real rival is the customer's uncertainty.
Customers hear every vendor claim to be the only answer
Well, when I talk to customers, the real competition is confusion.
Todd McKinnon
Every layer of the tech stack is becoming more autonomous, running for longer and connecting to more things, at start-ups and existing companies alike. He said "no one company can secure it all," and that the blueprint is meant to clear up the choice for customers so they can make what he called "no-regrets investments."
He named three of them: a central directory of a company's agents, tied into all its systems; a way to manage and see what each agent is connected to; and a kill switch.
The industry would share one way to shut an agent down
So the industry can agree on a way to sever these connections and shut the system down when it deviates from what it's supposed to be doing.
Todd McKinnon
4. How a Kill Switch Works
The host pushed back. An agent doing something unexpected may still be doing what it was asked to do, he said, and he asked how a kill switch could work without breaking systems a business depends on.
The test is whether the agent's permissions match its purpose
You have to understand what the intent was and making sure it matches with the permissions the system have.
Todd McKinnon
He acknowledged the answer was broad.
A technology in every layer needs general rules, he said
I know I'm speaking in generalities, but we're talking about a technology that's permeating every other layer of technology.
Todd McKinnon
Visibility and control, he said, are what get everyone the outcome they want. "We want the innovation," he said, as the segment ended.
Bonus Insights
The topic of the week
When the host said there was clearly demand for Okta's new tools, McKinnon called it a "typical topical conversation." The host agreed.
CrowdStrike appears on both sides
The host named CrowdStrike as one of the companies competing with Okta to secure AI agents. McKinnon then listed CrowdStrike among the members of Okta's blueprint alliance.
McKinnon's bottom line is that AI agents are spreading into every layer of software faster than any one security company can cover them, so companies need an industry-wide directory, permission map and kill switch before they can safely connect AI to their data.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Okta (McKinnon's identity security company, which launched an expanded AI agent kill switch and the blueprint coalition)
Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud (Named by the host as Okta's coalition partners; McKinnon listed Amazon and Google as members)
Salesforce and ServiceNow (Other members of the blueprint alliance, in his list)
CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks (Named by the host as rivals in securing AI agents; McKinnon counted CrowdStrike as an alliance member)
OpenAI and Hugging Face (The hack he cited, in which he said OpenAI did not know its system was connected to the internet)
Watch the full interview
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