Okta Shares Drop 13% After Anthropic Launches AI Code-Scanning Tool
Okta shares plunged 13% over four days after Anthropic launched 'Claude Code Security' on February 20, an AI code-scanning tool targeting vulnerabilities. The broader cybersecurity sector ETF has fallen to late-April 2025 lows, marking seven straight weekly declines.
1. Anthropic Launch Triggers Okta Selloff
On February 20 at 1 PM ET, Anthropic introduced 'Claude Code Security', an AI-driven code vulnerability scanner, triggering a 13% drop in Okta shares over four days as investors reevaluated security automation risk.
2. Sector Plunge Reaches Multi-Year Lows
The First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity ETF slid to its lowest level since late April 2025, extending a seven-week losing streak to its longest since 2015, reflecting broad concerns over AI-driven disruption in security tools.
3. AI Scanning Seen as Supplementary
An analyst at Bank of America contends that AI code scanning only covers pre-production vulnerabilities, lacking runtime visibility and proprietary telemetry, and views it as an augmentation layer rather than a replacement for full-security platforms.
4. Okta's Runtime Edge Remains
Okta's identity-centric platform integrates real-time endpoint, network and cloud monitoring with threat-response workflows, preserving its structural advantage over standalone AI scanning tools and maintaining enterprise security efficacy.