Category: ActiveDirectorySecurity

Detecting Kerberoasting Activity

Introduction Kerberoasting can be an effective method for extracting service account credentials from Active Directory as a regular user without sending any packets to the target system. This attack is effective since people tend to create poor passwords. The reason why this attack is successful is that most service account passwords are the same length …

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Sneaky Persistence Active Directory Trick #18: Dropping SPNs on Admin Accounts for Later Kerberoasting

The content in this post describes a method through which an attacker could persist administrative access to Active Directory after having Domain Admin level rights for about 5 minutes. Complete list of Sneaky Active Directory Persistence Tricks posts This post explores how an attacker could leverage existing admin rights and/or over-permissive delegation to gain persistence …

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Securing Domain Controllers to Improve Active Directory Security

Active Directory security effectively begins with ensuring Domain Controllers (DCs) are configured securely. At BlackHat USA this past Summer, I spoke about AD for the security professional and provided tips on how to best secure Active Directory. This post focuses on Domain Controller security with some cross-over into Active Directory security. The blog is called …

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DEF CON 24 (2016) Talk “Beyond the MCSE: Red Teaming Active Directory” Presentation Slides Posted

On Thursday, August 4th, I presented “Beyond the MCSE: Red Teaming Active Directory” at DEF CON 24 (2016). Here are the slides for this talk:  DEFCON24-2016-Metcalf-BeyondTheMCSE-RedTeamingActiveDirectory Here’s my talk description from the DEF CON website: Active Directory (AD) is leveraged by 95% of the Fortune 1000 companies for its directory, authentication, and management capabilities, so …

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Black Hat USA 2016 Talk – Beyond the MCSE: Active Directory for the Security Professional

This summer in Las Vegas, I’m speaking at Black Hat USA 2016 on Active Directory security, “Beyond the MCSE: Active Directory for the Security Professional.” This talk covers the key AD security components with specific focus on the things security professionals should know. I put this talk together because I have noticed that while Active …

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DEF CON 24 (2016) Talk – Beyond the MCSE: Red Teaming Active Directory

This August at DEF CON 24, I will be speaking about Active Directory security evaluation in my talk “Beyond the MCSE: Red Teaming Active Directory”. This talk is focused on the Red side of AD security, specifically how to best evaluate the security of AD and quickly identify potential security issues. Whether you perform “Red …

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Sneaky Active Directory Persistence #17: Group Policy

The content in this post describes a method through which an attacker could persist administrative access to Active Directory after having Domain Admin level rights for about 5 minutes. Complete list of Sneaky Active Directory Persistence Tricks posts This post explores how an attacker could leverage the built-in Active Directory management capability called Group Policy …

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Sneaky Active Directory Persistence #16: Computer Accounts & Domain Controller Silver Tickets

The content in this post describes a method by which an attacker could persist administrative access to Active Directory after having Domain Admin level rights for about 5 minutes. All posts in my Sneaky Active Directory Persistence Tricks series This post explores how an attacker could leverage computer account credentials to persist in an enterprise …

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ADSecurity.org’s Unofficial Guide to Mimikatz & Command Reference Updated for Mimikatz v2.1 alpha 20160229

ADSecurity.org’s Unofficial Guide to Mimikatz & Command Reference page is updated for the new modules/features in Mimikatz v2.1 alpha 20160229. According to Mimikatz author, Benjamin Delpy, the following updates are included in the most recent Mimikatz version(s): Mimikatz Release Date: 2/29/2016 2.1 alpha 20160229 (oe.eo) edition System Environment Variables & other stuff [new] System Environment …

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Building an Effective Active Directory Lab Environment for Testing

This post is not meant to describe the ultimate lab configuration. Instead the focus is on a lab environment that can be stood up quickly and easily as a learning tool. The best way to learn about computer networking and security is to have a home lab. The great thing is that a home lab …

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