Many Active Directory attacks begin with a stolen password. However, a Pass the Hash attack takes a different approach. In this example of credential theft, threat actors instead steal a user’s password hash. The attack is difficult to detect and can lead to privilege escalation and serious damage to your…
Any organization that relies on Kerberos authentication—the primary authentication method in Active Directory environments—is potentially vulnerable to a Pass the Ticket attack. Organizations that do not regularly patch their systems, monitor and secure Active Directory, and follow robust security measures for credential and ticket protection are at a higher risk.…
Golden Ticket attacks are particularly cunning. Like Kerberoasting, Golden Ticket attacks exploit the Kerberos authentication system and are one of the most severe threats to Active Directory environments. Here’s more information about this type of attack and how you can defend your Active Directory environment. What is a Golden Ticket…
An MFA fatigue attack—also known as MFA bombing—is an attack tactic, technique, and procedure (TTP) in which a threat actor floods users with multifactor authentication (MFA) requests. By overwhelming, confusing, or distracting the user into approving a fraudulent request, attackers hope to gain access to your network environment. Microsoft recently…
A man-in-the-middle attack, also known as an MitM attack, is a form of eavesdropping. These attacks can pose a serious threat to organizations' network security, particularly in environments that use Microsoft Active Directory (AD) for identity management. What is a man-in-the-middle attack? In a man-in-the-middle attack, a malicious actor positions…
Welcome to AD Security 101, a series that covers the basics of Active Directory (AD) security. This week, we look at primary group IDs and how unnecessary changes to them can complicate account management. Attackers can also exploit primary group IDs to introduce security risks, including privilege escalation, and to…
Resource-based constrained delegation (RBCD) is an Active Directory (AD) security feature that enables administrators to delegate permissions in order to manage resources more securely and with greater control. Introduced in Windows Server 2012 R2 as an enhancement to the traditional Kerberos constrained delegation (KCD), RBCD can help to reduce the…
In Active Directory (AD) environments, you can use Group Policy Objects (GPOs) to configure user rights. By using GPOs, you can easily enforce consistent user rights policies across all computers in the domain or organizational unit (OU). This capability makes it easier to manage and maintain user access control over…