Email Delivery Issues

Update timeline

1. resolved Jan 22, 2026, 06:55 PM UTC

   The third-party provider has confirmed that a fix has been successfully deployed. A root cause analysis (RCA) will be posted here within ten business days. We sincerely apologize for the impact this had on you and your users.

2. resolved Jan 22, 2026, 09:46 PM UTC

   We are continuing to monitor the third-party email service provider's progress toward a resolution. At this time, we have not received an estimated time for recovery (ETR). If you are attempting to sign in and have configured alternative MFA factors (such as Okta Verify, SMS, or Security Keys/Biometrics), we recommend using those options to avoid delays associated with email delivery. Our engineering teams remain on standby to verify service restoration the moment it begins. We will continue to provide updates as soon as the impacted provider shares new information.

3. resolved Jan 22, 2026, 11:24 PM UTC

   We're continuing to track the ongoing service disruption with the third-party email provider. We appreciate your patience while we await the provider's resolution of the root cause. We'll post our next update in 90 minutes or as soon as we have a significant change in status.

4. resolved Jan 23, 2026, 12:46 AM UTC

   The third-party email provider has identified the root cause as a service infrastructure issue within the North America region. They are currently implementing load-balancing configurations to stabilize the environment. While recovery is underway, users may continue to experience intermittent delays or failures in receiving emails. We are monitoring the provider's progress and will provide another update as they move toward full resolution.

5. resolved Jan 23, 2026, 03:55 AM UTC

   The third-party provider continues to see improvements across their impacted North American infrastructure. While our internal systems remain healthy, our team is on standby to validate the restoration of all external dependencies. We will provide a final update once the provider confirms that their services have fully returned to normal operations.

6. resolved Jan 23, 2026, 06:46 AM UTC

   The third-party provider has confirmed that a fix has been successfully deployed. A root cause analysis (RCA) will be posted here within ten business days. We sincerely apologize for the impact this had on you and your users.

7. resolved Jan 30, 2026, 10:34 PM UTC

   Following is the RCA summary for a recent incident where a third-party provider or downstream service experienced an issue that impacted the Okta service Timing: Incident start: January 22, 2026, at 10:55 AM PST Incident resolved: January 22, 202,6 at 7:50 PM PST Detection: The issue was initially identified through customer reports that they were not receiving expected email notifications. Okta Engineering confirmed the service disruption after internal monitoring indicated a high volume of deferred email delivery attempts to specific third-party domains. Impact: Customers across all Okta cells with email addresses hosted by Microsoft Exchange Online may have experienced intermittent delays or failures in receiving automated email notifications, such as Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) codes and enrollment links. Okta services remained healthy and attempted to resend deferred messages. Root Cause: Microsoft reports that it experienced a service issue within its North American data centers during a planned maintenance activity. As a result, emails sent from Okta to the affected provider resulted in “soft bounce” errors, indicating that the provider’s servers were temporarily unable to accept the messages. Remediation Steps: To mitigate the impact on users attempting to sign in, Okta recommended using alternative MFA factors, such as Okta Verify, security keys, or SMS, to bypass delays associated with email delivery. Okta Engineering continuously monitored the third-party provider’s recovery efforts and validated that mail delivery returned to baseline levels once the provider stabilized their environment.