Tag: Active Directory security

Introduction to Service Principal Names (SPNs) What is an SPN? Even a Windows Admin with some experience with Active Directory may be unaware of the role that Service Principal Names have in domain environments. A security principal name (SPN) is a unique identifier that links a specific...

Grep (Global Regular Expression print) command is a powerful text searching utility in Unix/Linux systems. Grep takes a pattern such as a regular expression or string and searches one or more input files for the lines that contain the expected pattern. Grep command can be significantly used for...

Overview of AD Microsoft Active Directory is a directory service for Windows domain networks. Active Directory serves as a centralized database which stores information about network resources, including users, computers, and services. It plays a significant role in network management and...

Just like human users, computer programs also need access to resources on a network to function properly. There’s a difference in how these two groups—individuals and programs—access these resources, though. While humans utilize user accounts, computer programs use Active Directory...

One of the most common ways for attackers to slip into a corporate network is by compromising the username and password of a legitimate user account. Usernames are typically trivial to guess because they follow an established standard in a given organization, such as...

Microsoft Active Directory (AD) is the primary authentication service used by a majority of organizations worldwide (roughly 90 percent). It stores critical business information on domain controllers (DCs) like user accounts, their permissions, the number of computers in your organization’s...

Distribution groups — more commonly known as distribution lists — are a powerful tool for managing communications. Users do not have to painstakingly compile a set of recipients for each email; they can simply select the appropriate distribution list. This approach doesn’t just save time; it...

Effective Active Directory (AD) monitoring is a cornerstone for security and compliance. It empowers administrators to spot suspicious activity, including improper changes to AD objects like user accounts and Group Policy objects (GPOs), in time to avoid data breaches or minimize their...

Most organizations today rely on Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) and Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) for core business operations. But how secure are these vital platforms against ransomware? This article explores the key concern concerns in Entra ID and Microsoft 365 and details the key...

Each user in an IT ecosystem — including both employees and third parties like consultants, trainers, auditors and contractors — needs to be provisioned access to the data and systems they need to do their job. In most cases, these IT resources involve sensitive information and applications...