17 / 04 / 2024
We live in an age of digital warfare, cybercrime, and hacktivism. Luckily, the security landscape has been growing stronger over the years, adapting to counter even the most dangerous threats. But securing core parts of your cloud infrastructure, like your Active Directory, means implementing a number of policies, processes, and controls. Let’s go over the most important security steps, together with Hans Leysen, our AD Security Expert.
Active Directory (AD) is a service, developed by Microsoft for Windows domains. It plays a crucial part in managing network resources, security, and organizational structure. But what does it actually look like? It has a few core components and functionalities:
In short, Active Directory is quite literally the backbone of your entire network. But with great power comes great responsibility. So, keeping your AD secure is of the utmost importance. And to do that successfully, it’s important to understand the potential dangers.
Cybercriminals often target AD credentials, through phishing, malware and brute-force attacks, to gain unauthorized access to your network’s resources. Once stolen, they use those legitimate credentials to move laterally within the network, escalate privileges and cause significate damage to your organization.
Pass-the-Hash (PtH) and Pass-the-Ticket (PtT) Attacks involve capturing hashed credentials or Kerberos tickets respectively. And using them to authenticate as a legitimate user. That way, attackers are able to move laterally within your network, without having to crack passwords.
When your AD security settings are improperly configured, attackers will have significantly more entry points into your network. But what can cause these vulnerabilities? Overprivileged access rights, intentional abuse of permissions, negligence or incorrect security settings, for example.
And once exploited, these misconfigurations can lead to major data breaches or compromise your entire system.
Without proper monitoring and logging, any security gaps or suspicious activities will go unnoticed. That way, criminals can maintain a presence in your network, without being seen. Additionally, when patches and updates aren’t executed regularly, your system will stay exposed to known vulnerabilities. Making your organization an easy target for attackers.
Integrations with third-party applications and services can make your systems more prone to vulnerabilities. Not only because these third-party integrations might contain outdated components, but also because you have less control over their security practices.
So, in the event of a successful breach, attackers can use these compromised systems as a vector for cyberattacks on your Active Directory.
Enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all AD accounts, especially for administrators. That way, you’ll to add an extra layer of security, making it more difficult for attackers to use stolen credentials to break into your Active Directory.
Ensure that all AD components, including domain controllers and associated systems, are kept up-to-date with the latest patches and security updates. They are meant to protect against known vulnerabilities. And to prevent criminals from exploiting them.
Enable detailed logging of all AD activities (and regularly review them) in order to detect unusual behavior. There are several real-time monitoring tools you can implement, like Microsoft's Defender for Identity, for example. They’ll alert AD administrators in case of potential security incidents.
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Apply the principle of least privilege within AD, ensuring users and administrators have only the necessary permissions to perform their tasks. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to manage permissions and regularly audit and adjust permissions as needed.
Want to learn more about Identity & Access Management (IAM)? Our security experts at SecWise can tell you everything you need to know.
Segment your AD environment logically, using Organizational Units (OUs), and apply tailored group policies to boost your security. By implementing network segmentation, you can isolate critical AD components and protect them from lateral movement by cybercriminals.
Provide AD administrators with continuous training sessions on security best practices, emerging threats, and how to respond to potential security incidents. By encouraging a culture of security awareness and vigilance, you can mitigate insider risks significantly.
Regularly check the security of your AD backup and recovery processes. When backing up AD data, make sure you’re using secure methods. And protect these backups from unauthorized access and malicious tampering.
Check your AD configurations regularly by conducting security assessments and audits. Don’t know where to start? We’ve got a customized auditing service, tailored to your specific business needs.
Ready to boost your security? With our AD Audit, we help mitigate the risks to your IT infrastructure. And help keep your Active Directory as safe as possible.
