Randy Franklin Smith's
Audit and Assessment of Active Directory Training
Course Outline
Chapter 1 - Introduction
- Introduction
- Background
- Chapters overview
- Hands-on exercises
- What is AD?
- Why is AD so important to security and audit?
- How does AD relate to Windows?
- Where does Group Policy fit in?
- What makes AD audits unique?
- Windows Security
Chapter 2 - Windows Security
Part 1 – On a Standalone Server
- Local Users
- Password and Lockout Policy
- Local Groups
- Built-in Local Groups
- User Rights
- Services
- Patch Level
- Audit Policy
- Security Log Settings
Part 2 – In a Domain Environment
- Computer roles
- Domain vs. local
- Users
- Groups
- Password and lockout policy
- Group policy
- Patch management
- Active Directory Structure
Chapter 3 - Active Directory Structure
Part 1 - Introduction to AD
- Leaf and container objects
- Windows NT Domain Structure
Part 2 – Container Hierarchy
- Domains
- Forests
- Trees
- Organizational Units
- Sites
Part 3 – Trust Relationships
- Transitivity
- Direction of trust
- Risks of trust
- External trusts
Chapter 4 - Computer Accounts
- Computers are people too
- Computer Roles
- Workstations
- Member servers
- Domain controllers
- Group policy
Chapter 5 - User Accounts
- Password and lockout policy
- User specific logon controls
- User’s location in OU
- Group policy for user accounts
Chapter 6 - Groups
- Group Type and Scope
- Using groups for access control
- Where to place groups in OU hierarchy
Chapter 7 - Administrative Authority
- 2 ways to control admin authority
- Built-in Groups
- Delegating admin authority
- Comparing Active Directory Access Control to File System Access Control
- Inheritance
- Active Directory Permissions
- Safe Use of Administrative Privileges
Chapter 8 - Tying It All Together
- Domain controllers
- Local vs. domain users and groups
- Forests
- Domains
- OUs
- Managing end-user access control
- Managing IT admin authority
Chapter 9 - Planning and scoping your audit
- Different types of audits
- Scoping
- Beyond the forest and outside Windows
Chapter 10 - Gathering evidence
- Using the audit kit
- Evidence collection tools
- Planning evidence collection
- Evidence collection levels
- Forest evidence
- Domain evidence
- Domain controller evidence
- Organizational unit evidence
Chapter 11 - Analyzing evidence
- Forest
- Domain
- Domain Controller
- Organizational Unit
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