I improve security for enterprises around the world working for TrustedSec & I am @PyroTek3 on Twitter. Read the About page (top left) for information about me. :) https://adsecurity.org/?page_id=8
Sean Metcalf
Author's posts
Sep 15 2025
Active Directory Security Tip #3: Computer Accounts
Active Directory computers should be reviewed about once a year. Old operating systems can hold back security progress like keeping SMBv1 and NTLMv1 active. Inactive computers should be discovered and disabled when no longer in use (and eventually removed). The OperatingSystem & PasswordLastSet attributes are self-explanatory, though we can use the LastLogonDate which represents the …
Sep 15 2025
Active Directory Forest & Domain Level Capabilities
An important Active Directory setting determines what security capabilities are available which relates to the level of the forest and/or domain. This post collects the relevant capabilities of Windows domain and forest functional levels.You can easily check the domain & Forest functional levels using the Active Directory PowerShell module using the cmdlets Get-ADForest & Get-ADDomain. …
Sep 14 2025
Active Directory Security Tip #2: Active Directory User Accounts
There are several different types of user accounts – at least how they are used. There are standard user accounts, service accounts, and admin accounts. There are numerous user account settings that can make them vulnerable. These configurations include: PowerShell code (using Active Directory PowerShell module):https://github.com/PyroTek3/ActiveDirectory/blob/main/Get-VulnerableUserAccounts.ps1
Sep 12 2025
Active Directory Security Tip #1: Active Directory Admins
A critical part of Active Directory security is regularly reviewing your AD admins. The simplest way to do this is to recursively enumerate the membership of the domain Administrators group (that group’s members and all member group members). Check the AD Admins output for the following: PowerShell code (using Active Directory PowerShell modules):https://github.com/PyroTek3/ActiveDirectory/blob/main/Get-ADAdmins.ps1
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 …
Aug 10 2025
Entra & Azure Elevated Access Revisited
In early 2020, I published an article on how a Global Administrator could gain control of Azure resources, that no one would know about it, and how this access would persist even after removing them from Global Administrator. From that article: “While Azure leverages Azure Active Directory for some things, Azure AD roles don’t directly …
Dec 19 2020
Kerberos Bronze Bit Attack (CVE-2020-17049) Scenarios to Potentially Compromise Active Directory
Introduction & Attack Overview Jake Karnes (@jakekarnes42) with NetSPI published 3 articles (that’s right 3!) describing a new attack against Microsoft’s Kerberos implementation in Active Directory. He posted an Overview article, describing how the attack works, an Attack article on practical exploitation, and if you need further background on Kerberos, a Theory article. This article …
May 29 2020
Attacking Active Directory Group Managed Service Accounts (GMSAs)
In May 2020, I presented some Active Directory security topics in a Trimarc Webcast called “Securing Active Directory: Resolving Common Issues” and included some information I put together relating to the security of AD Group Managed Service Accounts (GMSA). This post includes the expanded version of attacking and defending GMSAs I covered in the webcast.I …
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 …
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