A new perspective on active directory management

Organisations must consider a risk management strategy to secure and protect their network and reputation

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In association with Servaplex

Active directory (AD) is an integral part of an organisation’s network and is highly susceptible to security risks. Thus, one wrong move in your AD can have adverse effects on your business and can potentially break it. Organisations are thus advised to implement a cyber security and risk management strategy to secure and protect their network and reputation. As per the NIST Special Publication 800-39, Managing Information Security Risk: Organisation, mission, and information system view, risk assessment plays a critical role in the risk management process. It involves identifying, evaluating, and reporting the identity-related risks in an environment, which when exploited can have dire effects on an organisation and its assets.

ManageEngine has announced the addition of access certification and identity risk assessment functions to ADManager Plus, its on-premises identity governance and administration (IGA) solution. These two functions enhance the compliance posture of enterprises and help them mitigate security risks.

The identity risk assessment in ADManager Plus provides a comprehensive view of your AD threat landscape and the factors that are affecting your AD health and performance. ADManager Plus granularly examines your AD network, identifies the plausible loopholes, evaluates them, and offers insights on the harm that they might cause and how to proactively get rid of them and secure your AD network. Organisations looking for a complete assessment of their AD can use this report to uncover the security threats that they are exposed to, find areas that require attention, list the policies that they lack, and learn about their security stature.

ADManager Plus follows the NIST SP 800-30 guidelines to assess, identify, and evaluate the risk indicators in an environment, and summarises your AD health and risk status with a risk score. This score is an indication of how secure or vulnerable your AD network is, i.e a lower risk score indicates that your organisation is less prone to attacks, while a higher risk score indicates higher risk and requires your undivided attention.

Identified risk indicators demand attention based on their severity and risk exposure level, which in turn depends on the objects contributing to it. Each risk indicator can be viewed as an individual report, and risky objects can be dealt on the fly. ADManager Plus also imparts knowledge on the impact that these risk indicators might have on your AD network and provides actionable recommendations that can be implemented to reduce their likelihood of occurrence in the long run.

The identity risk assessment module is free for anyone who purchases or renews ADManager Plus Professional Edition before 31 December 2023 and can be used until your subscription expires.