Performing Active Directory Security Review

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Download the ADMustcheckReports.ps1 script below.

You can download the Free Script from here .


Note: You will need to extract the .ps1 after downloading the zip file, please review the help file.

The CionADChecks.ps1 is a PowerShell scripts gathers basic data from AD Domain/forest that we believe enterprises must review on a regular basis and take necessary actions to remediate any weakness. You can further use CionSystems’ Free AD reporter for detailed AD assessment.

The PowerShell script requires the following:

  • PowerShell 5.0 (minimum)
  • Windows 7+ or Windows Server 2008 (or newer)
  • Active Directory PowerShell Module
  • Group Policy PowerShell Module

The PowerShell script gathers domain data using the Active Directory PowerShell & Group Policy modules and displays some results on the screen. The data shown on the screen is also saved to a transcript log file and all captured data is also saved to csv/text files in c:\temp\ADMustcheckReports.

The ADMustcheckReports PowerShell script gathers data for key AD security items in a domain:

  • User Account Issues
  • Groups
  • Trusts
  • Duplicate SPNs
  • Group Policies
  • AD Administration & Privileged Accounts
  • KRBTGT Account
  • Kerberos Delegation
  • Group Policy Object Owners
  • Much more…
    # What is it? Recommendations
    1 User Account Issues

    There are several potential issues that Active Directory domain user accounts may have because these accounts can be configured in many different ways. Further they can be in different states with different user access control settings. The script shows the state of all users along with

    User accounts flags.
    • Disable and eventually delete inactive accounts. You must look at all domain controllers to figure out the inactive users as last login attributes are not replicated between dcs.
    • Remove the following from accounts:

    ·         Reversible Encryption

    ·         Password Not Required

    ·         Password Never Expires

    ·         DES Kerberos Encryption Enabled

    ·         Do not require Kerberos Pre-Authentication

    ·         Review accounts configured with SID History and clean up SIDs in SID History for accounts from domains that no longer have trusts configured with them.
    2 Domain Password Policy

    The Domain Password policy determines how passwords are created and how often they need to be changed, etc. The AD default password minimum is 7 characters. Most AD environments we see have this set to between 8 and 10. Some are set to 0 or 3 or 5.

    Password Spray attacks are effective against Active Directory due to bad passwords (often with short minimum requirements).Increasing password length can limit Password Spray effectiveness. Fine-Grained Password Policies (FGPP) provides additional flexibility, especially for admin and service accounts.

    		 You can use CionSystems ADGuardian password protection to audit all passwords, enhance default AD password policies, remove duplicate passwords, force all users to change passwords if they are using passwords that has been breached
    3 Tombstone Lifetime

    The AD Tombstone Lifetime determines how long deleted items exist in AD before they are purged. The default value is 180 days starting with new AD forests created with Windows 2003 SP1. While the tombstone lifetime directly affects deleted items, it also has an impact on Domain Controllers. If a DC hasn’t replicated within the tombstone lifetime with another DC, it is effectively orphaned from the domain. Additionally, DC backups are only useful for restoring AD data within this tombstone lifetime – a backup that is 181 days old is no longer useful when the tombstone lifetime is 180 days.

    		 Systems state DC backups are only useful for restoring AD data within this tombstone lifetime – a backup that is 181 days old is no longer useful when the tombstone lifetime is 180 days.
    3 Active Directory Backups

    Microsoft supported backups update a partition attribute to identify the last backup date for that partition.

    		 Unlike CionSystems ADGuardian plus, not all backup solutions of Active Directory set this attribute since they are likely not using a Microsoft supported method.
    4 Trusts

    An Active Directory trust extends the security boundary and include other the systems that may not be in the domain yet they can access resources within the domain, thereby extending the authentication boundary.
    • Review trust configuration & ensure that trusts are appropriate at least once every month.
    • Review bidirectional trusts.
    • Check if trusts is needed with DMZ environments otherwise remove.
    • See if Selective Authentication works for your need.
    5 Active Directory Duplicate Service Principal Names (SPNs) Make sure there are no duplicates!

     
    6 Group Policy Preference Passwords

    Group Policy Preferences was released in the 2008 time-frame and included capability to provide and update credentials. These credentials were encrypted using AES256 which sounds good until you realize that a static key is used to encrypt them. The cpassword value in the GPP xml files is the encrypted password. Using a PowerShell function from PowerSploit, we can reverse this encryption and get the plain-text value. Since authenticated users have read access to Group Policies in the SYSVOL share on all DCs, anyone can view this information and get the passwords stored in GPP xml files, even across trusts.
    • Ensure there are no Group Policy Preference passwords in SYSVOL.

     
    7 Active Directory Admin Account Checks

    During standard Active Directory Security Assessment, the focus must be on identifying “AD Admins” which includes members of the domain Administrators group, Domain Admins, Enterprise Admins, and other builtin groups etc. These accounts have full AD rights and require careful protection. Note, there may be other accounts with privilege access that may not show up in this list, if the access was granted using ACL’s modification
    • Ensure passwords change regularly (every year)
    • Disable inactive account
    • Remove disabled accounts
    • Ensure no SPNs on accounts associated with people
    • Remove any computer accounts
    • Scrutinize Service Accounts
    • What do they do?
    • Where do they run?
    • What computers do they authenticate to?
    • What rights are actually required?
    8 AD Admin Accounts Not Member of Protected Users

    Protected Users is a new group created when the domain PDC Emulator is running Windows Server 2012 R2. Full Domain protection is only available when the domain functional level is 2012 R2.

    Protected Users group provides additional protections:

     
    • Kerberos AES authentication only (No Kerberos DSE/RC4 or NTLM)
    • No Kerberos delegation (constrained or unconstrained)
    • Kerberos TGT set to 4 hours
    • Credential delegation (CredSSP) will not cache the user’s plain text credentials
    • NTLM will not cache the user’s plain text credentials or NT one-way function
    • Offline sign-in is not supported
    9 AD Admins with Old Passwords

    AD Admin accounts with old passwords, especially those older than 3 months, are vulnerable to password spraying (and password guessing).
    • Ensure privileged account passwords change regularly. Use CionSystems password protection enhancer!
    • Older passwords are typically poor and easier to guess.
    • Password Spraying & Kerberoasting are popular attack methods for compromising accounts lacking strong passwords.
    10 AD Admins with Kerberos Service Principal Names (SPNs)

    Kerberos Service Principal Name or SPN is effectively the signpost that points to the service account for a service on a server that supports Kerberos authentication. When the client needs to connect to a service, it must request a Kerberos service ticket from a DC and in order to do this it needs to provide a SPN for that service. The DC looks up the account in the AD forest that has that SPN, identifies the account, and uses the account’s password data to encrypt the ticket. Once the service ticket is delivered to the service, it attempts to open the service ticket and if it can, it can assume the DC provided it, so it validates access for the user.
    • Ensure that no AD Admin accounts associated with people have SPNs.
    • Limit service account membership in privileged Active Directory groups and ensure these service account passwords are longer than 25 characters
    • Enhance password policies using CionSystems Password protection solution

     
    11 Check Default Domain Administrator Account for Issues
    • The account password should change at least every month (and when an AD Admin leaves the organization).
    • Ensure the account has no SPNs.
    • Account should be rarely used which is not the case in most enterprises
    • The account can be enabled or disabled.
    12 Review AD Default/Built-In Group Membership

    Reviewing the default privileged groups in Active Directory is important to identify accounts with high-level privileges.
    • Leave only accounts that must require full AD rights are members of these groups. Use CionSystems ADGuardian to reduce the privilege accounts.
    13 Default AD Groups: Administrators Default Rights:

    • Active Directory admin rights (for the domain)
    • Domain Controller admin rights (for the domain)

    Reference:

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/identity-protection/access-control/active-directory-security-groups#bkmk-admins
    14 Default AD Groups: Domain Admins Default Rights:

    • Membership in the domain Administrators group which provides most rights.
    • Active Directory admin rights (for the domain)
    • Domain Controller admin rights (for the domain)
    • Default rights on all domain Group Policies
    • Default local Administrator on all domain-joined computers

    Reference:

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/identity-protection/access-control/active-directory-security-groups#bkmk-domainadmins
    15 Default AD Groups: Enterprise Admins Default Rights:

    • Membership in every domain Administrators group which provides most rights.
    • Active Directory admin rights (in every forest domain)
    • Domain Controller admin rights (in every forest domain)
    • Default rights on all domain Group Policies
    • This group should remain empty in a single domain forest and membership very limited in a multi-domain forest.

    Reference:

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/identity-protection/access-control/active-directory-security-groups#bkmk-entadmins
    16 Default AD Groups: Server Operators This group is effectively “Domain Controller Admins” and members of this group should be scrutinized at a similar level to Domain Admins. This group has no default members.

    Default Rights:

    • Default rights on Domain Controllers:

    ·         Log on locally

    ·         create and delete shared resources

    ·         start and stop some services

    ·         backup and restore files

    ·         format the hard disk

    ·         shut down the computer

    Reference:

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/identity-protection/access-control/active-directory-security-groups#bkmk-serveroperators
    17 Default AD Groups: Account Operators This group has no default members. This group should remain empty.

    Default Rights:

    • This group has rights to most objects in the domain (users, groups, computers, etc).

    Microsoft recommends this group remain empty.

    PowerShell Sample Code & Results:

    Get-ADGroupMember ‘Account Operators’

    Reference https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/identity-protection/access-control/active-directory-security-groups#bkmk-accountoperators
    18 Privileged Group: VMWare Admins Many enterprises have “VMWare Admins” or other such groups.

     

    • Ensure that “admin” groups only contain admin accounts.
    • Ensure that VMWare Admins follow privileged account best practices:

    ·         Use separate admin accounts

    ·         Use admin workstations

    ·         Passwords change about once a year
    19 Krbtgt Password Not Changed Recently

    The krbtgt account is the domain service account. This account is disabled but used for Kerberos Tickets. The password set when created & practically never changes. DC/AD backups contains the KRBTGT account password. If an attacker gains knowledge of this password, they can create Golden Tickets!
    • Change this password every year (DoD STIG requirement)
    • Change after AD admins leave

    Reference:
    20 Kerberos Delegation

    Kerberos Delegation Types:

    • Unconstrained: Impersonate users connecting to service to ANY Kerberos service.
    • Constrained: Impersonate authenticated users connecting to service to SPECIFIC Kerberos services on servers.
    • Constrained with Protocol Transition: Impersonate any user to SPECIFIC Kerberos services on servers. (aka “Kerberos Magic”)

    Resource-based Constrained Delegation: Enables delegation configured on the resource instead of the account
    • Set all AD Admin accounts to: “Account is sensitive and cannot be delegated”
    • Add all AD Admin accounts to the “Protected Users” group (Windows 2012 R2 DCs).
    • Ensure service accounts with Kerberos delegation have long, complex passwords (preferably group Managed Service Accounts).
    • Remove delegation from accounts that don’t require it.
    • Don’t use Domain Controller SPNs when delegating.
    • Work to shift accounts with unconstrained delegation to constrained.
    • Restrict & monitor who has the ability to configure Kerberos delegation.
    21 GPO Permissions: Review Owners

    Group Policy Objects (GPO) has owners which are able to change permissions. Typically when an account creates a GPO, the account that created has delegate modify rights and it is configured as the owner.
    • Ensure all GPO owners are set to Domain Admins or Enterprise Admins, especially GPOs linked to the domain root and Domain Controllers OU.
    22 Review Domain Permissions

    Domain permissions should be reviewed to ensure that configuration is appropriate. Security of the domain often depends on proper domain permissions.
    • Review domain root permissions with special attention paid to any non-default admin groups (Domain Admins, domain Administrators, Enterprise Admins, etc) with GenericAll (Full Control), WriteDACL (change permissions), write property (modify), and ExtendedRights.
    • Ensure that the domain root owner is configured to Domain Admins or Enterprise Admins.
    23 Domain Controllers Running Old Versions

    Domain Controllers must be running Microsoft supported Windows versions. You can run all Windows Server 2012 R2 DCs even with older Windows Server versions in the domain (note that some testing to ensure Windows 2003/XP works with the new DCs, especially for SMB shares).

     

    All DCs should be running a minimum of Windows Server 2012 R2, preferably 2016/2019. If all DCs are not running 2012 R2 with 2012R2 DFL, Protected Users group doesn’t have full domain protection.

    		 All DCs should be running a minimum of Windows Server 2012 R2, preferably 2016/2019
    24 AD Forest Functional Level / Domain Functional Level Older than Domain Controller Operating System

     
    • Ensure all Domain Controllers are updated to Windows Server 2012 R2 (or newer) and set DFL/FFL to 2012 R2 (or newer).
    • Change the domain level only after understanding all the implications!

The dangers of vendor shortcuts!

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Installers are hard to write. They generate a lot of customer support calls and seem to always need tweaking to support unforeseen or new customer environments. But installers fulfill several, important functions.
Obviously, software needs to get installed and configured. In addition, the installation process usually established the security context for many products. However, both vendors and customers encounter both a learning curve, and common pitfalls in many cases.

When security and core infrastructure is involved, this is a dangerous space to take shortcuts. For example, consider a Windows centric environment. Most companies recognize the install base and huge potential customer base. But some companies lack the domain expertise. Not knowing the Microsoft ecosystem, and basically in the “fake it before you make it” phase, they may simply wrap a Linux tool with a UI. All’s good, right? Looks like a Windows app, but no need to invest in the cross training and support a new development platform. (An example of this is Manage Engine’s AD Tools).
For example, one might build an Active Directory management tool using Linux as the deployment platform. Simply run the application in a Linux VM supporting Windows workloads. But, while the products look like a Windows solution, from a security standpoint, it is a Linux solution, with Linux vulnerabilities, hiding this from management tools.
For most almost all enterprises, Active Directory holds the keys to the kingdom. As such, It will be highly telemetered and monitored. But, if these tools are not secure, neither is the Active Directory instance.

Recently, an exploit leveraging Log4J – an integral component to Apache – appeared as a zero day. This m Meanings if any product utilizing Log4J on your network has elevated permissions then – your core infrastructure, identities, credentials and defenses are potentially compromised.

If the product in question is a management tool, holds elevated credentials, or can control configuration and monitoring – immediate action is required. This requires going to the AD logs and log aggregators to perform the a thorough forensic investigation. Examine network logs and event logs. DO NOT USE ANY SUCH PRODUCT TO PERFORM THESE TASKS. Having a product that provides real time alerts of all changes to the Active Directory is essential for security, for instance CionSystems Active Directory Change alerter/notifier that has the ability trap ‘all’ changes and send real time alerts.
Once an intruder can access Active Directory at this level, the impact is potentially catastrophic. Via Accounts in Active Directory, and the products service accounts, the threat actor will likely have access to credentials used by network tools, intrusion detection, log aggregators, and other core infrastructure. They will also be able to cover their trail and inject hacking tools, such as MimiKatz, into the environment. A recent example of CVE-2021-44228 which pertains to vulnerabilities in Apache Log4j. This is something any customer using a vendor supplied VM should investigate, thoroughly.
Lastly, do not assume applying a vendor fix is all that is required. These attacks are usually tools used to potentiate APT’s (Advanced Persistent Threats). This means a fix needs to be combined with ongoing forensics, removal of problematic products, and retrospective log analysis.

Note: Since the initial writing of this paper in early December, the scope and impact of CVE-2021-44228 has become apparent. Threat actors are using this vulnerability to potentiate attacks, and it is proving surprisingly damaging. In particular, ZD has noted:

“The FBI’s cyber division has issued an alert warning enterprises using Zoho-owned ManageEngine’s Desktop Central that advanced attackers have been exploiting a flaw to install malware since late October.”
From: https://www.ic3.gov/Media/News/2021/211220.pdf

Enterprise Identity and Governance Suite

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Enterprise Identity and Governance Portal, formally CionSystems Enterprise Self-Service, is a lightweight,easy to deploy, and simple to use Identity Management, Self Service, Delegation, and Compliance suite.Unlike more complex and expensive alternatives, there is no need to deploy multiple, dedicated,servers. CionSystems’ solutions deploy in hours, and give users and administrators a complete, fully featured solution CionSystems’ Enterprise Self-Serviceunifies on-premises, cloud, and Office365 identity. Everything needed is including, pre-built, and ready to go. This is a true, out of the box, solution. With a web portal,easily configured workflow, notifications, backend connectors, CionSystems Enterprise Identity and Governance Portal delivers unified management and self-service for users, groups, and credentials.User can manage their entire identity and membership lifecycle. Administrative, operational, and compliance overhead are greatly reduced. Workflow creates consistency, automates time consuming tasks, and enforces policy.

CionSystems’ Enterprise Identity and Governance Portal supports multiple, back-end, repositories:
• Active Directory
• AzureActive Directory
• Office 365
• Google Apps
• Sales Force
This facilitates a variety of use cases, including migration, credential synchronization, provisioning, self-service of users, mergers and federation. Enterprise Identity and Governance Portal can also interoperate with multiple Active Directory instances.
For example, some typical scenarios include:
  • Standardize and enforce access privileges (e.g.: administrator, power user, manager and user)
  • Self Service – users can update their profile, manage group membership, change passwords, etc.
  • Group membership portal
  • Span multiple back end stores Active Directory, Microsoft Azure Active Directory, OpenLDAP
  • Self Service password reset: Users can reset and unlock accounts without Helpdesk interaction
  • Synchronized accounts across multiple repositories:
    • Local Active Directory Domain
    • Windows Azure Active Directory
    • Office 365
    • Multiple internal or external Active Directory Forests and Domains
    • Google Apps
    • Sales Force
    • Workday
  • Audit and attestation via logs, reports, and notifications
  • Automatically notify users, support staff, and operations staff to enhance security:
    • Locked out users
    • Passwords about to expire,
    • Inbox size exceeds threshold limit
    • Successful or unsuccessful password reset attempts
  • Prevent Office 365 account lockout via flagging pending password expiration
  • Provide multi-factor authentication. and one time passwords
  • Automatically reset expired passwords
  • Email real-time reports (e.g. – password audit, mail status,unlock, etc.)
To read more, click here

Creating mailbox enabled distribution group using CSV in ADM Pro

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If you are looking for provisioning mailbox enabled distribution group in bulk using CSV, you can try a power feature of CionSystems ADM Pro.
To use this feature, First you have to prepare a CSV file in below format. Where the first column will have the group name, then Email column that is going to set to External Email attribute of group, forth and fifth will have the distinguished name of group and user for membership, you can get by exporting user and group  distinguished name using other feature of ADM pro. You can also specify the Owner of group in the last column.

Once the CSV file is ready. Now login to ADM pro as a administrator, go to AD Management menu, click on Group in left side menu and then click on Create Groups using CSV – Bulk in right side pane, Now follow the below screen shots to do the rest.

After importing the CSV file Check Create Exchange E-Mail address option, select the container and click on Create Group button

Now you can verify these new created group in Exchange Console as below.


Enhancing Enterprise Value

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The evolution of the cloud and on premise technology is providing enterprises with dynamic opportunities to lower IT cost while gaining redundancy, availability and disaster recovery at a fraction of the price.
The cloud has been transforming the on premise environment for businesses of all different sizes. However not all BPOS (Business Productivity Online Services) adoption is seamless. CionSystems can make this adoption of hybrid environments that engage BPOS easy.
CionSystems builds Identity and Access Management solutions. CionSystems has recently released solutions to simplify migrating and managing users and data on BPOS. They are great for hybrid environments. These solutions automate and extend the on premise infrastructure to BPOS. Download our Cloud identity and migration tool to see how simple it is to move and adopt BPOS without the hidden cost of migration and management.
CionSystems services work for enterprises of all sizes and eases the pain of dealing with information that needs to be kept compliant and in synch between on premise and BPOS cloud.
CionSystems is committed to making IT solutions that can enhance and manage the most challenging technical environments for on premise and the cloud. Are you moving to BPOS or staying on premise? CionSystems can help!
We offer a free 30 day trial and support for running any number of our products. Please send any support requests to support@cionsystems.com. Our team looks forward to assisting you.
Download a trial version of CMT (Cloud Migration Tool) or Self Service.
http://www.cionsystems.com/cim_selfservice.php
*we will match or beat all competitor price quotes!






CionSystems – Reporter

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“Active Directory Reporter”
Channeling comprehensive information to auditors, administrators and senior management in meaningful reports helps companies comply with standards of their own as well as federal requirements. CionSystems Active Directory Reporter tool shines light on the inner activities of your Active Directory infrastructure.
AD Reporter also enables IT administrators to extracts critical information through a web based user interface. Mitigating risk by using Active Directory Reporter lowers operation costs, reduces company exposure and assists with migration of users. This tool also comes with 200 out-of-the-box reports on the Active Directory infrastructure resources.
The Reporter application is vital for any network administrator to control the flow of resources to create a compliant environment. If you’re interested in trying this solution for free first please visit our website. http://www.cionsystems.com/