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Month: February 2017

It’s All about Cybersecurity: Insider Threat Missed by the Fed

Recently, while reading the news I found one interesting and, in my opinion, funny case about employee-privileged abuse. Long story short, Nicholas Berthaume, a former communications analyst of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System has installed unauthorized software on a Fed server to mine bitcoins and was caught doing this. There are … Continued

Pro Tip: How to Copy Files from One Server to Another

Copying files from one server to another is a fairly frequent task that system administrators face. As with most things in IT, there are many ways to accomplish this task.  The method you choose will depend on your situation and your personal preferences.  The information below assumes that both of your servers are on the … Continued

Introduction to Active Directory Services Technologies

IT administrators have been working with and around Active Directory since the introduction of the technology in Windows 2000 Server. Windows 2000 Server was released on February 17, 2000 but many administrators began working with Active Directory in late 1999 when it was released to manufacturing (RTM) on December 15, 1999. In this part of … Continued

Active Directory Replication

IT administrators have been working with and around Active Directory since the introduction of the technology in Windows 2000 Server. Windows 2000 Server was released on February 17, 2000 but many administrators began working with Active Directory in late 1999 when it was released to manufacturing (RTM) on December 15, 1999. In this part of … Continued

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)

IT administrators have been working with and around Active Directory since the introduction of the technology in Windows 2000 Server. Windows 2000 Server was released on February 17, 2000 but many administrators began working with Active Directory in late 1999 when it was released to manufacturing (RTM) on December 15, 1999. DHCP is another network … Continued

DNS in Active Directory

IT administrators have been working with and around Active Directory since the introduction of the technology in Windows 2000 Server. Windows 2000 Server was released on February 17, 2000 but many administrators began working with Active Directory in late 1999 when it was released to manufacturing (RTM) on December 15, 1999. What is Active Directory … Continued

Active Directory Database

IT administrators have been working with and around Active Directory since the introduction of the technology in Windows 2000 Server. Windows 2000 Server was released on February 17, 2000 but many administrators began working with Active Directory in late 1999 when it was released to manufacturing (RTM) on December 15, 1999. Inside the AD Database … Continued

Force a Group Policy Update with GPUpdate/Force

Imagine that you get a phone call from the security specialist who handles your firewalls and proxy servers. He tells you that he has added an additional proxy server for users going to the internet. You add a new GPO that affects all users so they can use the new proxy server via Internet Explorer. … Continued

Understanding Group Policy & Group Policy Objects (GPOs)

What is Group Policy, and what is a GPO (Group Policy Object)? Group Policy is a feature of Windows that enables centralized configuration and management of operating systems, computer settings and user settings. Each policy, or Group Policy object (GPO), defines a set of Group Policy settings. You have literally thousands of settings available when creating … Continued

Trusts in Active Directory

IT administrators have been working with and around Active Directory since the introduction of the technology in Windows 2000 Server. Windows 2000 Server was released on February 17, 2000 but many administrators began working with Active Directory in late 1999 when it was released to manufacturing (RTM) on December 15, 1999. What is Trust in AD? … Continued

3 Ways to Secure Service Accounts in Active Directory

If you’re looking for security weak spots in your organization, auditing service accounts isn’t a bad place to start. Active Directory audit should include establishing the rights assigned to each account, the password strength, the last time it was reset, and whether it is a domain account, local account, Managed Service Account (MSA), or Group Managed … Continued

4 Things You Should Never Store in Your Database

Databases are mainly used to support various business-critical applications. They can store many kinds of data. However, there are some things you should never keep in a database. These basic database security techniques will help protect your data: Unsecured Credentials This is probably an obvious point, but it’s not a good idea to store plain … Continued

Using AD to Add an Alias to an Office 365 Email Account

If you are using Office 365 with Azure AD Connect (or the older DirSync) you know that some changes to accounts cannot be made via the O365 admin portal. For instance, if someone gets married and changes their name, you may wish to add a new email address for them. Handpicked related content: Free Download: … Continued