Category: Security

Improve Entra ID Security More Quickly

At BSides Northern Virginia (BSides NoVa) in October 2025, I presented a talk on how to improve Entra ID security quickly. This post captures the key information from my talk slides. This article describes the Entra ID settings and configuration that should be set to improve security including:

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BSides NoVa 2025 Presentation Slides Posted

My BSides NoVA talk on Saturday, October 11, 2025 was titled “10 Ways to Improve Entra ID Security Quickly“. I focused on the areas that tend to be missed in Entra ID.Talk slides are now posted. Downoad Presentation Slides

Microsoft Interview

A couple years ago, the Microsoft Security Experts Blog interviewed me regarding Azure Active Directory (Entra ID) security. Read the Interview here

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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From DNSAdmins to Domain Admin, When DNSAdmins is More than Just DNS Administration

It’s been almost 1.5 years since the Medium post by Shay Ber was published that explained how to execute a DLL as SYSTEM on a Domain Controller provided the account is a member of DNSAdmins. I finally got around to posting here since many I speak with aren’t aware of this issue. Shay describes this …

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Domain Controller Print Server + Unconstrained Kerberos Delegation = Pwned Active Directory Forest

At DerbyCon 8 (2018) over the weekend Will Schroeder (@Harmj0y), Lee Christensen (@Tifkin_), & Matt Nelson (@enigma0x3), spoke about the unintended risks of trusting AD. They cover a number of interesting persistence and privilege escalation methods, though one in particular caught my eye. Overview Lee figured out and presents a scenario where there’s an account …

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Attacking Read-Only Domain Controllers (RODCs) to Own Active Directory

I have been fascinated with Read-Only Domain Controllers (RODCs) since RODC was released as a new DC promotion option with Windows Server 2008. Microsoft customers wanted a DC that wasn’t really a DC. – something that could be deployed in a location that’s not physically secure and still be able to authenticate users. This post …

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Securing Microsoft Active Directory Federation Server (ADFS)

Many organizations are moving to the cloud and this often requires some level of federation. Federation, put simply, extends authentication from one system (or organization) to another. Gerald Steere (@Darkpawh) and I spoke about cloud security at DEF CON in July 2017. Presentation slides and video are here: “Hacking the Cloud” One of the key …

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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 …

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