This week let’s look at Active Directory domain permissions which are configured on the domain root and apply to the domain. There are many different type of concerning permissions, but let’s look at the most egregious.
Tag: ActiveDirectory
Oct 08 2025
Active Directory Security Tip #13: Reviewing Foreign Security Principals (FSPs)
Review the membership of groups for accounts and groups from another Active Directory forest (technically another domain, but using forest here). These are called “Foreign Security Principals” (FSPs) like the ones highlighted in the image. These FSPs are accounts that exist in another forest but have rights in the AD forest. Any FSPs should be …
Sep 16 2025
Active Directory Lab Build Script
Over the summer, I rebuilt my Active Directory lab environment with multiple regional domains. Instead of manually configuring common issues, I decided to create a PowerShell script to do this for me.
Aug 18 2025
The Art of the Honeypot Account: Making the Unusual Look Normal
This article was originally posted on the Trimarc Content Hub on August 6, 2020.Updated here with authentication PowerShell code on August 18, 2025. ADSecurity.org is the new home for this article and all updates will occur here. I have had the idea for a post describing how to best create a honeypot (or honeytoken) account …
Aug 18 2025
Detecting Password Spraying with Security Event Auditing
This article was originally posted on the Trimarc Content Hub on February 10, 2017. A common method attackers leverage as well as many penetration testers and Red Teamers is called “password spraying”. Password spraying is interesting because it’s automated password guessing. This automated password guessing against all users typically avoids account lockout since the logon …
May 27 2020
From Azure AD to Active Directory (via Azure) – An Unanticipated Attack Path
For most of 2019, I was digging into Office 365 and Azure AD and looking at features as part of the development of the new Trimarc Microsoft Cloud Security Assessment which focuses on improving customer Microsoft Office 365 and Azure AD security posture. As I went through each of them, I found one that was …
Jan 12 2020
What is Azure Active Directory?
Many are familiar with Active Directory, the on-premises directory and authentication system that is available with Windows Server, but exactly what is Azure Active Directory? Azure Active Directory (Azure AD or AAD) is a multi-tenant cloud directory and authentication service. Azure AD is the directory service that Office 365 (and Azure) leverages for account, groups, …
Aug 10 2017
Beyond Domain Admins – Domain Controller & AD Administration
Active Directory has several levels of administration beyond the Domain Admins group. In a previous post, I explored: “Securing Domain Controllers to Improve Active Directory Security” which explores ways to better secure Domain Controllers and by extension, Active Directory. For more information on Active Directory specific rights and permission review my post “Scanning for Active …
Jul 06 2016
DEF CON 24 (2016) Talk – Beyond the MCSE: Red Teaming Active Directory
This August at DEF CON 24, I will be speaking about Active Directory security evaluation in my talk “Beyond the MCSE: Red Teaming Active Directory”. This talk is focused on the Red side of AD security, specifically how to best evaluate the security of AD and quickly identify potential security issues. Whether you perform “Red …
Mar 14 2016
Sneaky Active Directory Persistence #17: Group Policy
The content in this post describes a method through which an attacker could persist administrative access to Active Directory after having Domain Admin level rights for about 5 minutes. Complete list of Sneaky Active Directory Persistence Tricks posts This post explores how an attacker could leverage the built-in Active Directory management capability called Group Policy …
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