Enhancing Network Security: Best Practices for Active Directory Access Control

Granting and Revoking Network Access In an Active Directory 

An Active Directory provides a centralized location for an organization to grant and revoke access to enterprise assets upon new hire, termination, rights grant, rights revocation, or role change of a user in a centralized location. This allows an organization to maintain audit trails that define user account access permissions for increased network security. A decision to forgo these important controls exposes a network to potential breaches by malicious hackers who exploit vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information. Regular audits should continually assess user account activity.


Role and Feature-Based Active Directory Implementation for Organizations
A large organization often adheres to specific, defined employee roles; however, in a smaller company, employees often serve multiple undefined roles based upon the job that needs to get done at the time. When roles are undefined, a Feature-Based Active Directory may initially prove easier to manage; however, as a company grows in size and defines roles, creating Role-Based Access Controls provides a more convenient way of controlling access among a larger number of employees who receive the same level of access based on their employee role and significantly reduce mistakes and increase security when managing a large number of employees with defined roles.

Increasing Security with Multi-factor Authentication

Multi-factor Authentication requires users to provide multiple forms of verification before gaining access to network resources and prevents unauthorized access even if user passwords are compromised. Organizations manage Multi-factor Authentication within an Active Directory by denoting the authentication methods a user must perform before gaining access to the network. Organizations often integrate applications, such as Authy or DUO, by integrating the application’s API into the Active Directory to enable users to authenticate through secure pins, phone calls, or email confirmations. The CIS Control 6 identifies 3 areas where Multi-factor Authentication should be configured separately in the Active Directory to successfully enable Multi-factor Authentication.

Establishing a secure standard of Network Access Control

According to the CIS Control 6, comprehensive implementation of Access Control Management should include:

  1. Establish an Access Granting Process

  2. Establish an Access Revoking Process

  3. Require Multi-factor Authentication for Externally-Exposed Applications

  4. Require Multi-factor Authentication for Remote Network Access

  5. Require Multi-factor Authentication for Administrative Access

  6. Establish and Maintain an Inventory of Authentication and Authorization Systems’

  7. Centralize Access Control

  8. Define and Maintain Role-Based Access Control

Through categorized security implementation groups, the CIS Control 6 recommends a minimum standard of 1-5 for smaller organizations and a mature standard of 1-8 for a large, mature organization.


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