Auditing Software for Active Directory

How do I audit Active Directory?

Active Directory (AD) is a Microsoft directory service that allows a system administrator to delegate access permissions to specific directories and servers. These permissions can be applied to individual users or as part of larger group policy, and AD objects can be organized in a hierarchical fashion. To help ensure these settings are accurate, up-to-date, and secure, a system administrator can use Active Directory auditing and reporting to obtain an overview of objects and permissions.

The Active Directory audit process can be used to make sure that only authorized personnel have access to critical data on your network. It can also help you ensure there are no inactive users who still have access, which could inadvertently allow bad actors to access the network.

There are four key steps in a manual AD security audit checklist:

1. Map Your Environment: First scan and map your entire AD environment so you know the details of existing accounts and permissions. From there you can begin triage.
2. Focus on What Matters: Without an Active Directory permissions audit tool, it’s practically impossible to keep track of all the Active Directory changes that can be monitored. Instead, you should prioritize the areas that could pose the most danger. Organizations often focus on Privileged AD Access, Privileged User Access, and Large Group Remediation.
3. Review Memberships and Remediate Problems: Now you can begin reviewing group memberships and remediating problematic Active Directory folder permissions and conditions you uncovered. Review members to ensure that only the appropriate individuals and groups have access to sensitive data. Following the principle of least privilege helps ensure security.
4. Create a Continuous Cycle: The AD auditing process should occur regularly, which is why it’s important you make this process repeatable. After you have gone through your top priorities, repeat the third step with the next highest priority, and so on.

The AD auditing process can be long and complex without the right tools, but it is critical to maintaining the security of sensitive data. By using an Active Directory auditing tool, you can better streamline this process and more easily incorporate it as part of your regular security efforts.

Why is an Active Directory audit important?

Active Directory audits are critical for maintaining security and validating IT compliance. Audits give you greater visibility across Active Directory access levels, user accounts, and activities. They can also help you identify security gaps you may have, so you can remediate them before issues escalate.

One of the most important benefits of performing an Active Directory audit is the ability to detect possible vulnerabilities and security threats before cybercriminals, hackers, and other bad actors can exploit them. These threats might present themselves as multiple unauthorized access attempts or in the form of user accounts with insecure configurations on an AD audit report.

AD audits can help you detect internal security threats as well. Unfortunately, employees can accidentally delete or modify data—or purposefully steal and share sensitive data. If users have access to more information than what is necessary for their jobs, the potential risk to the company is higher than it needs to be. Active Directory audits can help ensure that data access settings are appropriately restrictive.

Active Directory tools can also help you with compliance, as their reporting capabilities can make it easier to demonstrate compliance with a variety of regulations, including GDPR, PCI DSS, SOX, GLBA, and HIPAA.

What are some best practices for auditing Active Directory?

Some of the most common best practices to follow when auditing AD include:

• Use the Advanced Audit Policy configuration instead of the basic audit configuration.
• Configure audit policies on servers and workstations.
• Configure the settings for event log size and retention.
• Centralize your event logs so they are all in one place.
• Configure the password and lockout policies beforehand.

However, the best Active Directory auditing practice is to audit frequently and thoroughly with the help of an Active Directory auditing tool. Using a purpose-built auditing solution can not only provide a deeper level of visibility, it can also help simplify AD auditing by automating the account provisioning and deprovisioning process—saving you the hassle of needing to log into the AD server and manually create or remove accounts. Some tools, like SolarWinds^® Access Rights Manager, even come with built-in, role-specific templates to use, so you can begin creating, modifying, and deleting accounts right away.

What are Active Directory auditing tools?

Active Directory auditing tools help you monitor, analyze, and report on your Active Directory permissions to help ensure they are configured according to internal security policies and industry regulations to better prevent a security breach or data loss.

An Active Directory auditing tool like SolarWinds Access Rights Manager can help you:

• Increase administrative control over user permissions with a single interface that helps admins gain deep insights into activities across the network.
• Modify permissions with the aid of automated audits and role-specific templates that help you create, modify, and delete accounts as needed.
• Simplify credential management so you can set and change passwords quickly and easily.
• Simplify the process of demonstrating regulatory compliance by automatically generating management and compliance reports.
• Improve both external and internal security by helping you detect unauthorized user access and attempted credential theft.
• Reduce costs by consolidating multiple disparate tools into a single Active Directory management tool.

How does the AD permissions audit tool work in SolarWinds Access Rights Manager?

SolarWinds Access Rights Manager (ARM) is a flexible and affordable Active Directory permissions auditing tool built to help system admins with crucial aspects of AD management: provisioning and deprovisioning accounts, managing group access, automating reporting, and helping you more easily demonstrate regulatory compliance.

Like every SolarWinds product, Access Rights Manager is designed with a user-friendly, intuitive interface to help you get a clearer picture of Active Directory permissions and policies and make more informed security decisions. With ARM, admins can easily review group and individual user access across files, systems, and data. If you need to change access rights, it typically only takes a few clicks.

ARM’s snapshot view can also help you stop potential insider security threats more quickly. Use this feature to see the current user access to file servers, services, and if anyone is accessing sensitive information who shouldn’t.

The tool goes beyond just helping you remediate insider threats. ARM’s risk assessment dashboard makes it easier to monitor risks by ranking them by severity level and providing information about potentially insecure configurations right in the dashboard. With ARM, you can even get notified when credentials are at risk, so you are quickly made aware of any potential threats.

Related Features and Tools

Other SolarWinds Tools to help administer and monitor Active Directory:

• SolarWinds Security Event Manager
• SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor
• Dameware Remote Support

Other ARM features:

• OneDrive Permissions Monitoring
• SharePoint Permissions Management
• SharePoint Audit Tool
• Simplify NTFS Permissions Management
• Exchange Auditing Software
• Exchange Management Tool
• File Server Auditing