Active Directory Architecture Review

Improve AD Security with an Expert-Guided Architecture Review

Underlying Active Directory architecture challenges make identity systems hard to secure. The Semperis expert-guided AD Architecture Review uncovers opportunities to improve AD security through sound security and operations practices, decreasing the risk of an AD-related cyberattack.

Download Active Directory Architecture Review Overview

Optimize your Active Directory architecture to defend against cyberattacks

Enterprise organizations with legacy Active Directory (AD) infrastructures often struggle to implement and maintain optimal AD security operations because of underlying AD architecture challenges. As companies grow, acquire other companies, and reorganize business units, the identity environment can degrade, accumulating misconﬁgurations and opening security vulnerabilities that threat actors can exploit.

An Active Directory Architecture Review, guided by Semperis identity experts, provides a thorough review of the current AD environment, identiﬁes opportunities to improve security and operations practices, and provides review sessions and tools to empower IT and security teams to maintain best practices going forward. Expert-guided Active Directory Architecture Review The Active Directory (AD) Architecture Review is a structured evaluation of the AD environment to ensure it is secure, efficient, and aligned with best practices. This process involves collecting and analyzing information about various aspects of the AD infrastructure, interviewing stakeholders, and comparing the current state to industry standards and future goals. AD environment information gathering

Microsoft Digital Defense Report

88%

of organizations hit by cyberattacks had insecure AD configuration

Microsoft Digital Defense Report

76%

of organizations lack effective cyberattack recovery and response plans

Semperis Ransomware Report

74%

of ransomware victims experience multiple attacks

Microsoft Digital Defense Report

68%

of organizations impacted by cyber incidents had no effective vulnerability or patch management process

Reduce cyberattack risk with expert-guided AD architecture review

The Active Directory (AD) Architecture Review is a structured evaluation of the AD environment to ensure it’s secure, efficient, and aligned with best practices. This process involves collecting and analyzing information about various aspects of the AD infrastructure, interviewing stakeholders, and comparing the current state to industry standards and future goals.

AD environment information gathering

To start the architecture review process, Semperis experts collect detailed information on each component of the AD environment, including:

Documenting the structure and relationships between domains and forests
Mapping the DNS zones, records, and their integration with AD
Conducting an inventory and evaluation of domain controllers, Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS), Active Directory Certiﬁcate Services (ADCS), Active Directory Rights Management Services (ADRMS), and multi-factor authentication (MFA)
Assessing other factors of the AD environment, including the organizational unit layout, GPO design, user account inventory, token sizes, and more
Reviewing backup strategy, current performance levels, integration with cloud identity providers, and more

Interviews to assess current and future AD operation needs

Next, the Semperis team gathers insights from the administration team about the AD environment’s operation, issues, and future needs.

Current functional and security requirements for each component of the AD environment, required compliance with industry standards, and future AD environment requirements and goals
Current AD governance practices, AD monitoring and management tools, AD backup and recovery procedures, GPO management, patching processes, and service account lifecycle management
AD environment collaborators, including AD administrators, IT managers, security team members, compliance officers, and leaders

Apply Semperis AD security expertise to improve AD architecture

Semperis AD security and recovery experts will evaluate your AD architecture and provide detailed recommendations for improving your hybrid AD cyberattack resilience.

Detailed remediation plan

Mitigate identified issues with the AD architecture to improve overall security posture

Knowledge transfer sessions

Receive expert recommendations for maintaining sound AD security practices

Detailed documentation

Learn from documentation developed by AD experts to maintain optimal AD configurations, change management logs, incident response plans, and more

Safeguard your identity system from cyberattacks with an expert AD Architecture Review

Defending your critical AD and Entra ID infrastructure from attacks starts with a security-first architectural foundation. With guidance from Semperis experts, you’ll uncover risky configurations and optimize your environment for resilience against attacks that increasingly target Active Directory.

Inventory and documentation of AD environment components and areas for review or improvement
Detailed insights into the AD environment’s operational challenges and requirements, governance procedures, and opportunities for improvement
Comprehensive assessment report on the AD environment architecture and health
Detailed remediation plan with timelines and responsibilities
Comprehensive documentation that supports ongoing AD security best practices, management, and compliance

Altice secures Active Directory with Semperis

We made a decision to invest in a technology that 1) will speed up recovery and 2) will have the functionality to detect anomalous behavior. We moved to Semperis [because] ADFR guarantees that the backup is segregated from the normal backup ecosystem. I can recover from [ADFR] backups directly in a couple of hours.
José Alegria Altice Portugal Chief Security Officer