When a cyberattack occurs, Active Directory is sometimes discarded as just another service to be recovered, and its security is an afterthought. However, the harsh reality shows us that when the security of Active Directory is overcome, then it is that of its entire environment. Today in this article we are going to explain why Active Directory security must be rethought to protect all the computers on the corporate local network.
The Importance of Active Directory Today
Today, 90% of companies use Active Directory as their primary tool for employee authentication, identity management, and access control. Today, more and more organizations are opting for a hybrid approach to identity, instead focusing on the interdependencies and complexities that result from the cloud. However, you need to understand that identity in the cloud still depends on the integrity of your on-premises Active Directory.
Considering that we use Active Directory as a source, from which to sync with other identity stores, any tampering can have a devastating ripple effect on your identity infrastructure. For that reason, Active Directory security is very important, and we must take it very seriously if we want to protect our organization.
Consequences of loss of Active Directory security
Without a doubt, an attack on Active Directory by a cybercriminal can give you greater access than the local resources that you are attacking. For example, this attacker can change a compromised local user account to a member of a group with more permissions in Active Directory. Thus, belonging to this group, you could possibly have access to local critical systems, applications and data.
Additionally, Active Directory is frequently associated with cloud applications through an external IDP, such as Azure AD. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that this change in group membership could gain access to a cloud-based CRM environment. Therefore, it would be possible that customer and organization data along with the contents of the breached account and other resources could fall into the hands of the attacker.
On the other hand, it is very possible that attacks affect multiple accounts and make many changes within Active Directory. As a consequence, the attacker gains access to resources anywhere within the logical environment, no matter where they reside.
Active Directory security needs to be increased
The ring 0 concept for some developing architectures is where the operating system kernel is located, and you have full access to all resources. Therefore, what companies must do is consider Active Directory security as their ring 0, providing it with the maximum protection so that it is not compromised.
The work to equip it with the necessary security goes beyond traditional monitoring tools, as they are incapable of detecting the most sophisticated identity attacks. In the event that Active Directory is successfully modified, cybercriminals can access any resource on the network. In this sense, to solve it, there must be specific security provisions to monitor and prevent unauthorized changes within Active Directory. But that’s not the only thing, also in case prevention efforts fail, they must have the ability to return to a known safe state.
A very important fact to keep in mind is that if an attacker puts your organization’s Active Directory at risk, there will be nothing they cannot access in the long term. This means that it requires the implementation of specific measures to guarantee its protection.
One way to get Active Directory secure would be by continually scanning your directories for security vulnerabilities, intercepting ongoing cyberattacks, and quickly recovering from ransomware attacks and other data integrity emergencies. In this sense, following this strategy, we will be prepared to face cybercriminals. In doing so, we are able to reduce the risks of Active Directory being compromised and leading to significant financial losses for your business.