Microsoft Active Directory infrastructure is a system that provides single sign on (SSO) functionality for Windows systems as well as other unrelated platforms. It uses Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) for querying and modifying items in the directory service while the Active Directory (AD) is basically the directory database. Given the wide acceptance of Windows systems by most businesses and corporations around the world, the Active Directory infrastructure has become one of the most deployed and used LDAP solutions worldwide. From providing authentication service across diverse systems and applications to enforcing group policies across enterprise systems, the AD infrastructure is critical to enterprise systems security and service delivery.
As important as the Active Directory (Domain Controller) infrastructure is to the business, there are risks that are inherent in its usage, which if not identified and adequately remediated could lead to serious security issues within the organization. This is coupled with the threat of abuse or misuse of the system by operators and users. Given that the active Directory infrastructure provides authentication service to Email systems such as Microsoft Exchange Server, it is important not to look at both systems in isolation. The risk associated with AD and Exchange infrastructure would vary with organizations and largely depends on how the infrastructures were deployed. As such, it is important that personnel with security oversight responsibilities on the AD and Exchange infrastructures put in context organization’s uniqueness in terms of information security policies, procedures, security baselines, regulatory and legal requirements while conducting their security assessment or reviews of these infrastructures to know how best to protect them.
This book is therefore a documentation of risks and vulnerabilities associated with Active Directory and Microsoft Exchange infrastructures, threats and threat agents that could exploit those weaknesses, their impact on the organization and actions required to mitigate the risks. It serves as a risk assessment checklist/guide for risk assurance practitioners (IT Risk Manager, Cyber/Information Security Analysts, Information Systems Auditors and Systems Control Analysts) and enable them understand as well as identify some of the risks inherent in the AD and Exchange infrastructure, implications/impact of such risks/vulnerabilities and ways to mitigate them. The book is a risk assessment checklist/program guide for risk assurance practitioners and provides unique/rich database of vulnerabilities/risk, control lapses, process failures and substandard practices associated with Active Directory (Domain Controller) and Exchange Server infrastructure. The book also covers the following.
Intended for organizations desirous of build a risk management program around their Windows infrastructures from the ground up or strengthen an existing one. Below are sample pages of the Active Directory (AD) and Exchange infrastructure risk assessment checklist/program. For full access to the document, you can subscribe to our membership plan for full access to all risk assessment checklists available on our site (this inclusive) or purchase only this book by clicking the Buy Now button below.