Discover the Top 5 XDR Use Cases for Today’s Cyber Threat Landscape
This comprehensive white paper provides a security checklist and advanced strategies to
Active Directory is the central directory service created by Microsoft which helps manage users, computers, and other resources within a Microsoft Windows network. It is used to track devices, access and passwords of each employee and store in one central vault.
The biggest advantage of Active Directory is it allows organizations to customize data organization, manage user accounts, and control access through group policies. With AD, users enjoy single sign-on, while administrators benefit from easy resource management and robust security features.
AD’s scalability, data protection, and automatic updates make it an essential component for Windows-based networks. Remember to plan carefully when implementing AD in your organization.
But these very advantages are what makes it an extremely lucrative target for cyber attackers.
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Dive into the depths of Active Directory threats and security:
Since its inception in 1999, the Microsoft Active Directory landscape has evolved rapidly. Designed to provide centralized access and a hierarchical framework for managing resources within a network, AD made its way to becoming the cornerstone of IT infrastructures.
However, with the arrival of cloud architectures and businesses increasingly moving towards cloud environments, AD had to evolve. That is how Azure AD, a cloud-based identity and access management service, came into being.
Traditional AD was created to address the challenges of organizations operating within a localized network environment. It includes features like:
While this traditional AD model worked well for on-premise AD environments, a newer version was needed to keep up with the technological advancements and newer requirements for identity management solutions.
Azure Active Directory came into existence in 2010, which is a more evolved version of traditional AD, meeting the demands of cloud-based and hybrid environments. These capabilities include:
Here is the basic comparison of Active Directory vs Azure AD:
| METRIC | TRADITIONAL AD | AZURE AD |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment | On-Premises, Own Infrastructure | Cloud-based, No local servers needed |
| Focus | Manages on-premise resources | Manages resources cloud-first |
| Security | Own Internal Vigilance | Constant Updates by Microsoft’s Security |
| Scalability | Requires Additional Hardware | No Additional resource requirements |
The cloud-first approach of many enterprises would make one think that the future of Active Directory is Azure AD only. But that is not the case. In the current landscape of things, most enterprises still can’t survive without a local AD infrastructure.
This indicates that while Active Directory continues to serve as a critical component of on-premises identity management, Azure AD represents the future, offering scalable, secure, and flexible identity and access management solutions for cloud and hybrid environments.
This means that the future of AD security likely lies in a hybrid approach. It is expected to become a mixed bag, with a blend of on-premises AD coexisting with cloud-based Azure AD for some time, eventually transitioning more towards the cloud.
The hybrid security approach enables:
Future developments in the field of Active Directory security will include advanced security features to keep up with the evolving cyber threat landscape.
Apart from this, here are some other developments that are likely to shape the world of Active Directory Security.
With Active Directory Security, as important as it is to detect threats quickly, it is also vital to response to these threats with the same speed. And that is where Fidelis Security comes in.
Fidelis Active Directory InterceptTM is the only solution which combines AD-aware network detection and response (NDR) with integrated deception technology with foundational AD log and event monitoring. It has the ability to:
If you want a complete AD security solution to protect your enterprise’s crown jewels, then get in touch with our experts today!
This datasheet dives into how Active Directory Intercept works. It covers:
See Fidelis in action. Learn how our fast and scalable platforms provide full visibility, deep insights, and rapid response to help security teams across the World protect, detect, respond, and neutralize advanced cyber adversaries.