Directory service (Active Directory): what it is and how it is attacked
The system that holds every account and computer, and decides what each one is allowed to do.
Also known as
- Active Directory
- AD
- DC
- LDAP
- domain controller
- staff directory
- identity store
Typing any of them into the editor finds this object.
Why it matters on a security diagram
Control of it is control of the whole estate, which is why it is the usual objective of an intrusion.
How it gets attacked, and what reduces it
How it gets attacked
- Escalating from an ordinary account to an administrative one
- Old accounts and permissions nobody removed
What reduces it
- Tier administrative accounts so an ordinary workstation compromise cannot reach a domain administrator
- Review delegated permissions, which accumulate into a path to full control nobody granted deliberately
- Protect backups and replicas as strongly as the live system, since the account database can be taken from either
Where it sits
- Group
- Identity · Who something claims to be, and what proves it.
- Whose side, by default
- Ours · Belongs to the organisation the diagram is about.
- Catalogue identifier
- directory
Reviewed . CC BY 4.0.
Others in identity
- Sign-in serviceIdP · SSO · identity provider · Entra ID · OktaThe single service that proves who someone is, for every application.
- Second factorMFA · 2FA · multi-factor authenticationA second proof of identity beyond the password.
- Machine accountservice account · robot account · non-human account · application accountAn account used by software rather than by a person.
- CertificateTLS certificate · PKI · code signing certificateA digital document proving something is genuinely what it claims to be.
- Access badgeproximity card · prox card · RFID card · fob · smart card · staff passThe card or fob a person holds against a reader to open a door.
The identity group lists all 6 of them side by side.
Directory service on your own diagram
Open the editor, press N, and type Active Directory. The object is placed and connected to whatever was selected, and Tab adds the next one already joined to it. Nothing is uploaded: the page is served with a Content Security Policy that forbids the browser from making any outbound request at all.
Open the diagram maker