The third installment of the Kong and Okta tutorial series focuses on implementing the introspection flow, a crucial part of service authentication and authorization using the OpenID Connect (OIDC) plugin. This tutorial demonstrates how to integrate Kong Konnect and Okta, leveraging the introspection flow to validate tokens during request processing. The process involves Kong Gateway evaluating tokens through a specific Okta endpoint to determine their validity, with caching capabilities available in production environments but disabled here for educational purposes. The tutorial details setting up an Okta application with client credentials, configuring the OIDC plugin with specific parameters, and using Insomnia to test the introspection flow by sending requests to both Okta and Konnect. It also highlights the effects of deactivating the Okta application, which renders associated tokens invalid, and provides guidance on protecting applications with Kong Konnect and Okta, encouraging users to explore related tutorials for further automation and service design insights.