Active Directory (AD) is a highly attractive target for threat actors due to its critical role as the identity (or access and authorization) system in many organizations. AD houses essential assets including user credentials, security parameters, and other mission-critical identity and access components.
A successful breach of AD can lead to both unauthorized access, and complete control over the entire environment.
To safeguard business operations from potential catastrophic outages, it is essential to remain vigilant against common AD vulnerabilities, like the ones listed below. Deploying a security solution like Specops Password Policy enhances the protection of passwords, which are frequently exploited as an initial entry point by attackers.
Kerberoasting
The Kerberos authentication protocol is a central security mechanism for AD. When users or services need to access a network resource, such as an application or document, they authenticate to the Key Distribution Center (KDC) and receive a Ticket Granting Ticket (TGT). This TGT is then used to request service tickets for specific resources.
Kerberoasting is an attack method targeting service accounts in AD that have an associated Service Principal Name (SPN), a unique identifier linking a service to an AD account. In this attack, the perpetrator, typically using a compromised low-level account with legitimate access, requests service tickets for accounts with SPNs.
These tickets are encrypted with the service account’s password. The attacker then tries to crack the password offline by brute-forcing the encryption of the obtained service ticket, not the TGT.
Strong, complex passwords are vital in defending against Kerberoasting attacks. Implementing robust password policies, and monitoring for unusual service ticket requests can significantly reduce the risk. Tools like Specops Password Auditor are beneficial as they enable scanning and detection of weak passwords within AD, including those found in breached password lists. The tool also provides visibility into stale accounts, which are particularly vulnerable to Kerberoasting attacks.
Additional measures like using longer and more complex passwords for service accounts, enabling AES encryption for Kerberos, and minimizing the number of service accounts with SPNs can further bolster security against such attacks.
Password spraying
Like other brute-force attacks, password spraying plays the volume game. Attackers, manually or through automation tools, try the most common passwords on various user accounts throughout an organization, hoping to find a username-password match.
This attack works because people generally prioritize convenience, adopting simple passwords that are easy to remember. Therefore, a third-party password solution that can enforce longer passwords, and block the use of high-probability passwords, is the best approach.
Default credentials
Default or identical credentials in AD can arise from various scenarios. One common scenario is the scripting of new user accounts, which often results in users having the same default password. Another scenario is when users have multiple accounts, such as an admin and a regular user account, and they opt for using the same password to avoid the hassle of remembering multiple passwords.
These scenarios pose significant security risks as attackers can exploit default credentials to gain unauthorized access to systems and sensitive data.
To mitigate this issue, Specops Password Auditor can identify users with the same password in AD, enabling organizations to address security gaps caused by default credentials.
Privilege escalation
Privilege escalation is a tactic employed by attackers to gain full control over an organization’s network. Attackers will either exploit a system vulnerability, steal user credentials, or guess the passwords of privileged accounts to get higher permissions.
Preventing these devastating attacks requires robust enforcement of password policies, particularly for privileged users.
Secure your Active Directory with Specops Password Policy
Active Directory serves as a central hub for managing IT resources, users, and devices, making it an attractive target for cyber attackers. Specops Password Policy enhances security controls in AD by enforcing strong password policies.
One of its key features is Breached Password Protection, which blocks over 4 billion known compromised passwords from being used. This helps mitigate the risks associated with password attacks and password reuse.
To further assess the security of your AD you can download Specops Password Auditor, a free read only reporting tool that scans your AD for over 950 million compromised passwords, blank passwords, identical passwords, and other password-related vulnerabilities.
Sponsored and written by Specops Software.