Defensive Security

Securing Active Directory

Securing Active Directory is a crucial step in protecting an organization’s IT resources against security threats. This complex task requires a proactive, integrated, and rigorous approach to ensure the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of data stored in this centralized directory. At Welan, we offer a comprehensive methodology to secure your Active Directory, covering all key aspects from planning to implementation, as well as risk organization and management.

1. Strategic Oversight: We begin with a strategic oversight phase where we identify your organization’s specific security objectives and establish a clear roadmap to secure your Active Directory. We assess potential risks, compliance requirements, and industry best practices to design a tailored strategy that meets your unique needs.

1. Analysis and Assessment: Next, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of your Active Directory environment, identifying vulnerabilities, configuration weaknesses, and areas at risk. We assess the security of your authentication strategies, access control, identity and privilege management, as well as event log monitoring, highlighting areas that require particular attention.

1. Implementation of Best Practices: Based on this analysis, we implement security best practices recommended by Microsoft and other industry experts to strengthen the security of your Active Directory. This may include implementing granular access controls, limiting administrative rights, configuring password policies, managing groups, monitoring changes, and more.

Implementing security best practices is a critical step in securing an Active Directory. This phase involves configuring and deploying various security measures aimed at enhancing the resilience of the directory and reducing the risk of compromise. Here are some of the key best practices that we recommend adopting:

• Granular Access Controls: Define granular access controls to limit user and group privileges within Active Directory. Use security groups to effectively manage permissions and assign only the necessary privileges to each user or group, following the principle of least privilege.


• Limitation of Administrative Rights: Restrict access to Active Directory administration accounts by limiting the number of administrators and using separate administrative accounts for daily tasks and sensitive administrative tasks. Apply strict access control policies to protect administrative accounts from potential compromises.


• Password Policy: Implement a robust password policy to enhance the security of user accounts and privileged accounts. Define requirements for password complexity, length, and renewal, and encourage the use of multi-factor authentication techniques for enhanced security.


• Group Management: Effectively utilize group management to streamline permissions and access administration in Active Directory. Define clear roles and responsibilities for each group, ensuring alignment with organizational security policies, and regularly audit group membership to detect anomalies.


• Change Monitoring: Enable advanced change monitoring in Active Directory to quickly detect and respond to unauthorized or suspicious changes. Monitor changes within Active Directory and promptly respond to incidents.


• Security Hardening: Implement hardening measures to reduce vulnerabilities. Disable unnecessary features and configure security settings according to best practices.


• Employee Training: Raise awareness among your staff about security threats and provide training on best practices. Encourage vigilance and collaboration to detect potential incidents.

1. Enhanced Monitoring: We also enhance the monitoring of your Active Directory by implementing tools and processes to quickly detect and respond to suspicious activities. This may involve using Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions, threat detection systems, or audit log monitoring to identify abnormal behaviors and signs of potential compromise.

1. Training and Awareness: Finally, we offer training and awareness sessions for your staff to familiarize them with best practices in Active Directory security and strengthen their ability to recognize and report suspicious activities. We emphasize the importance of vigilance and compliance with established security policies to maintain the integrity of Active Directory.

Active Directory serves as the central pillar of the IT infrastructure for many organizations, and its compromise can have disastrous consequences on data confidentiality, availability, and integrity.

Integration of PAM Solution

Privileged accounts, such as system administration accounts, are prime targets for cybercriminals aiming to compromise an organization’s computer systems. To enhance the security of these sensitive accounts and mitigate the risks of compromise, integrating Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions is essential. At Welan, we offer a holistic approach to integrating PAM (Privileged Access Management) solutions into your IT environment, enabling you to effectively control and secure privileged access.

1. Needs Assessment: We begin with a thorough assessment of your privileged access management needs, identifying at-risk accounts, compliance requirements, and specific use cases. Working closely with your team, we aim to understand your unique challenges and design a PAM solution tailored to your needs.

1. Solution Selection:: Based on this assessment, we assist you in selecting the PAM solution that best fits your environment, considering factors such as the size of your organization, the complexity of your IT infrastructure, and your specific security objectives. We evaluate market-leading solutions, emphasizing their user-friendliness, scalability, and ability to meet your needs.

1. Architectural Design: Once the PAM solution is selected, we design a robust deployment architecture, considering performance, redundancy, and security requirements. We define privileged access flows, access control policies, identity and privilege management processes, and integrations with other security systems.

• Granular Access Controls: Define granular access controls to limit privileges for users and groups in Active Directory. Use security groups to effectively manage permissions and assign only the necessary privileges to each user or group, following the principle of least privilege.


• Access Control Policies: We develop detailed access control policies to restrict and monitor the use of privileged accounts, defining appropriate levels of permission.


• Integration with Existing Systems: We ensure smooth integration of the PAM solution with your existing IT systems, including directories, operating systems, and critical applications.

1. Implementation and Configuration: We then proceed with the implementation and configuration of the PAM solution, integrating privileged accounts, target systems, and operational workflows. We work closely with your team to ensure a successful deployment, minimizing operational disruptions and ensuring effective adoption of the solution.

• Pilot Deployment: We conduct a pilot deployment of the PAM solution in a controlled environment to test its functionalities and identify any necessary adjustments before full-scale deployment.


• Configuration of Accounts and Systems: We configure privileged accounts and target systems to operate with the PAM solution, ensuring that all security policies and access controls are properly applied.


• Security Testing and Validation: We conduct rigorous security tests to verify the effectiveness of the controls within the PAM solution and validate that all access flows and policies are correctly implemented.

1. Training and Awareness: We offer training and awareness sessions for your staff to familiarize them with the new PAM solution and enhance their ability to use it effectively. We emphasize best practices in privileged access management, security of privileged accounts, and compliance with organizational policies.

PAM solutions play a crucial role in protecting privileged accounts against internal and external threats, thereby reducing the risks of compromise and data breaches.