Active Directory Auditing Tool | ManageEngine ADAudit Plus

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Active Directory auditing

Get a clear picture of all the changes made to your AD resources with ManageEngine ADAudit Plus. Strengthen your security posture and quickly detect and respond to insider threats, privilege abuse, and other indicators of compromise.

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Boost security with AD change intelligence

• Track AD changes
• Monitor user login
• Analyze account lockouts
• Audit GPO changes
• Enable hybrid auditing
• Start proactive threat hunting
• Strengthen AD security

Track AD changes in real-time

• Gain granular visibility into everything that resides in AD, including objects such as users, computers, groups, OUs, GPOs, schema, and sites, along with their attributes.
• Audit user management actions including creation, deletion, password resets, and permission changes, along with details on who did what, when, and from where.
• Keep track of when users are added or removed from security and distribution groups to ensure that users have the bare minimum privileges.
• Oversee all changes to Group Policy settings including modifications to domain-level policies such as account lockout and password policy, along with the policy’s old and new values.
• Get notified about permission changes at various levels in AD, including domain, OU, group, container, and user, to curtail unnecessary access.
• Quickly spot unwarranted configuration changes such as custom attributes added to schema, FSMO role changes, and site changes.

More on Active Directory change monitoring

Monitor user login behavior

• Get a complete login audit trail for any user, along with instant details on who is logged in, from where, since when, and more.
• Gain security insights by monitoring all types of user login behavior including interactive, remote, local, and network logins.
• Monitor and analyze your employees' productivity every day by keeping a close eye on their logon duration, idle time, and more.
• Notify admins about sudden atypical user login behavior, such as an unusual login time, by tracking deviations in the baseline created using machine learning.
• Track and scrutinize failed login attempts based on username, IP address, login time, and other factors to spot and mitigate what could be signs of indiscretion.
• Use our extensive reports to track computer startup time, shutdown time, active hours, shutdown type, and so on.

More on our login monitoring software

Analyze and troubleshoot account lockouts

• Audit and report on every single account lockout, along with critical details such as the lockout time, machine, and the user’s logon history.
• Quickly diagnose and resolve repeated account lockouts by analyzing multiple Windows components including services, applications, and scheduled tasks.
• Analyze and resolve account lockouts faster by checking for stale credentials or faulty network drive mappings.
• Reduce crippling user downtime by quickly notifying sysadmins when critical administrative user accounts get locked out.
• Accelerate the detection of brute-force attacks and use an automated threat response to disconnect the user session or shut down the infected system.
• Keep track of the frequently locked-out user accounts over time to identify the employees most affected, and view details on the cause of their lockout for further analysis.

More on our account lockout analyzer

Audit changes to GPO settings

• Provide clear, concise information on the recently created, deleted, and modified GPOs. Pull up the complete history of GPO changes as and when required.
• Regulate the end-user experience by keeping track of the changes made to Windows settings in real time.
• Pay special attention to sudden changes on high-value GPO settings such as user configuration, account lockout, and password policy, along with their old and new values.
• Send instant notifications on unwarranted changes to Group Policy settings that could signal the prelude to further attacks.
• Schedule periodic reports on who linked GPOs at various levels, including at the domain and OU, to meet the necessary compliance standards.
• Enable forensic investigations with a complete audit trail of every single setting change made to Group Policy across your domain.

More on our Group Policy auditing tool

Enable hybrid auditing with Azure

• Easily audit and analyze authentication attempts and user login patterns across on-premises and cloud environments from a single console.
• Track password set and reset attempts to highly privileged user accounts in Azure tenants, and reduce the risk of malicious actors accessing your resources.
• Practice role-based access control in Azure by making sure that members are appropriately assigned and removed from roles.
• Control access to critical resources in Azure by notifying group owners or admins every time a new user is added or removed from a group.
• Improve visibility into your bring your own device (BYOD) environment by auditing when new users or owners are added or removed from devices.
• Secure multiple cloud applications, including Office 365, by verifying every time a new OAuth permission is added or removed.

More on our Azure auditing tool

Start proactively hunting threats with UBA

• Choose the right response strategy using ADAudit Plus' automated threat response system that can disconnect rogue users' sessions, shut down infected systems, and more.
• Use machine learning to detect anomalous user login behavior including a sudden spike in logon failures, an unusual login time, and a user using remote access for the first time.
• Find hidden threats by monitoring sudden deviations in typical user behavior, such as a new process running on a server or an unusual volume of account lockouts.
• Improve your threat intelligence by updating users’ baseline behavior every day, and reduce instances of false positives and true negatives.
• Notify sysadmins of the early signs of privilege abuse, such as an unusual time or volume of user management activities.
• Gain a complete picture of all anomalous activities carried out by users in your organization daily.

More on user behavior analytics

Detect and mitigate AD attacks using the Attack Surface Analyzer

• Utilize the Attack Surface Analyzer's exclusive dashboard to gain invaluable threat insights about your AD environment.
• Leverage comprehensive rules derived from industry standards and benchmarks to quickly identify indicators of exposure in AD.
• Detect and remediate over 25 indicators of compromise, including Kerberoasting, Golden Ticket attacks, and Silver Ticket attacks, and minimize damage.
• Drill down into granular details about when an attack was perpetrated, by whom, from which machine, and its impact.
• Get a detailed history of the threat actor's actions immediately before and after an attack is detected.
• Receive instant alerts about any ongoing attempts to perpetrate an attack on your AD resources through instant email notifications.

More about the Attack Surface Analyzer

Enhance visibility and security with our Active Directory auditing tool

• Active Directory auditor
• Monitor user logins
• Track account lockouts
• GPO audit tool
• UBA driven AD audit tool
• Attack Surface Analyzer

1

Get the big picture

Generate a cumulative report on Active Directory changes across all configured entities.

2

Drill down deeper

Selectively monitor AD changes made by specific users or a group of users for in-depth analysis.

Get the big picture:Generate a cumulative report on Active Directory changes across all configured entities. Drill down deeper:Selectively monitor AD changes made by specific users or a group of users for in-depth analysis.

1

Perform failure analysis

Keep track of users with the most failed authentication attempts to prevent security threats.

2

See what's happening

Quickly track the number of users currently logged in with details on who logged in from where.

See what's happening:Quickly track the number of users currently logged in with details on who logged in from where. Perform failure analysis:Keep track of users with the most failed authentication attempts to prevent security threats.

1

Find the most recent data

Keep track of recently locked-out user accounts and view relevant details for further analysis.

2

Analyze and troubleshoot

Identify the source of the most repeated account lockouts by checking multiple Windows components.

Find the most recent data: Keep track of recently locked-out user accounts and view relevant details for further analysis. Analyze and troubleshoot: Identify the source of the most repeated account lockouts by checking multiple Windows components.

1

Get granular

Use the multiple predefined report categories available to track different types of GPO setting changes for in-depth analysis.

2

Gain contextual information

Quickly identify the old and new values of a modified GPO, and view information about who modified it and when.

Get granular: Use the multiple predefined report categories available to track different types of GPO setting changes for in-depth analysis. Gain contextual information: Quickly identify the old and new values of a modified GPO, and view information about who modified it and when.

1

Simplify anomaly detection

Detect anomalies across various types of user activities, including logins, using machine learning.

2

Learn the specifics

Analyze the particulars for each and every unusual activity that’s detected.

3

Know what's normal

Browse through the baseline, or typical behavior, of every user in your organization.

Simplify anomaly detection: Detect anomalies across various types of user activities, including logins, using machine learning. Learn the specifics: Analyze the particulars for each and every unusual activity that’s detected. Know what's normal: Browse through the baseline, or typical behavior, of every user in your organization.

1

Secure your AD

Get a bird's eye view of your AD's security profile with the exclusive AD threat dashboard and keep an eye out for any indicators of compromise.

2

Safeguard against attacks

Detect and mitigate over 25 common AD attacks with dedicated threat reports.

Secure your AD : Get a bird's eye view of your AD's security profile with the exclusive AD threat dashboard and keep an eye out for any indicators of compromise.

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Ensure data security and get compliant

Our Active Directory auditing software offers extensive out-of-the-box compliance reports that helps streamline and meet multiple compliance requirements.

FAQ

• What is Active Directory auditing?

• Why is Active Directory auditing important?

• How do I audit changes in Active Directory?

• What are the key areas to monitor when auditing Active Directory?

• What are some best practices for Active Directory auditing?

What is Active Directory auditing?

AD auditing is the process of tracking, monitoring, and analyzing activities within your AD environment. Continuous AD auditing provides critical insights into what changes were made, who made them, and when they occurred. This helps organizations troubleshoot issues quickly, detect unauthorized activities, and maintain a detailed audit trail for regulatory compliance.

While AD has built-in tools like the Event Viewer for auditing, they fall short of providing real-time, granular visibility and comprehensive reporting. To simplify the AD auditing process and gain deeper insights, it is essential to use an advanced change auditing solution like ManageEngine ADAudit Plus. With over 300 preconfigured reports, real-time alerts, and an exclusive threat dashboard for detecting more than 25 types of AD attacks, ADAudit Plus ensures your AD environment remains both secure and compliant.

Why is Active Directory auditing important?

Without AD auditing, organizations risk security breaches and non-compliance with regulatory standards. A systematic AD auditing process improves visibility and accountability across your AD environment while providing deeper insights into activity patterns. Furthermore, AD auditing helps organizations in the following aspects:

• Security: It helps identify and mitigate security risks, such as unauthorized access or privilege abuse.
• Compliance: Many regulations, such as the GDPR, HIPAA, and SOX, require organizations to track and document changes across IT environments.
• Troubleshooting: Auditing helps pinpoint the root cause of issues, like account lockouts, failed logins, and misconfigurations.
• Operational oversight: It ensures proper management of user accounts, permissions, and access rights.

How do I audit changes in Active Directory?

AD auditing relies on properly configured audit policies and system access control lists (SACLs). If not configured carefully, audit policies can generate excessive noise in event logs, making it difficult to extract actionable insights. To implement AD auditing in your organization, follow these steps:

• Identify your audit goals: Create a comprehensive plan detailing your audit goals by taking into account the size of your IT environment and your compliance requirements.
• Enable audit policies: Configure audit policies in the Group Policy Management Console to track specific activities, such as account logon events or directory service changes.
• Configure SACLs: To audit object-level changes, configure the appropriate SACLs on the AD objects you want to monitor.
• Monitor event logs: Use Windows Event Viewer to review logs for suspicious activities. Some important event IDs include 4720 (user creation), 4726 (user deletion), and 5136 (object modification).
• Use third-party tools: Consider using an advanced solution like ManageEngine ADAudit Plus that provides centralized dashboards, real-time alerts, and automated reporting.

What are the key areas to monitor when auditing Active Directory?

To audit your AD environment efficiently, focus on these critical areas:

• Logon and logoff events: Monitor the login activity of AD users to detect unauthorized logins and other anomalies.
• Group membership changes: Track all security group membership changes to quickly identify privilege escalation attempts.
• Object changes: Audit modifications to user and computer accounts, OUs, and GPOs to spot suspicious activities.
• Account lockouts: Investigate the root cause of account lockouts to mitigate possible brute-force attacks.
• Permission changes: Monitor updates to file and folder permissions to protect sensitive, business-critical information.
• Service account activity: Audit service account activities to ensure they are not being misused for lateral movement or privilege escalation.

What are some best practices for Active Directory auditing?

Every organization faces unique challenges when designing an audit policy that fits its specific security and compliance needs. While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to AD auditing, the following best practices can help guide you toward building an effective AD auditing strategy:

• Minimize event noise: Use advanced audit policy settings to reduce event noise and gain granular insights.
• Focus on high-risk areas: Prioritize auditing of critical events like logons, group membership changes, and account lockouts.
• Allocate sufficient space: Ensure to set aside enough space when configuring the event log size and retention settings to avoid audit data loss.
• Flag indicators of compromise: Look for suspicious patterns like repeated logon failures or frequent account lockouts and investigate them immediately.
• Implement data archiving: Store the audit log data for the required duration to meet compliance requirements and support forensic analysis.

Customers' Review

• Auditors and regulators frequently ask for reports that show Active Directory activities such as user lockouts, access removal for terminated users, users created, etc. AD Audit Plus has helped us do that easily and with minimal overhead.

  Chris Schum

  Information Security Officer

• AD Audit has given us the ability to see who does what in our admin group thus giving the security office more efficiency and control over our domain.

  Shawn W.

  

• Deployment was very easy and very cost-effective. After we received our license, we immediately started deployment of software and was active in less then 1 hour.

  Nikola Mugosa

  

• This product allowed me to report on user login information and determine who made what changes to AD when necessary.

  Steffenson, Shannon L

  Network Systems Manager

• Auditors and regulators frequently ask for reports that show Active Directory activities such as user lockouts, access removal for terminated users, users created, etc. AD Audit Plus has helped us do that easily and with minimal overhead.

  Chris Schum

  Information Security Officer

• AD Audit has given us the ability to see who does what in our admin group thus giving the security office more efficiency and control over our domain.

  Shawn W.

  

• Deployment was very easy and very cost-effective. After we received our license, we immediately started deployment of software and was active in less then 1 hour.

  Nikola Mugosa

  

• This product allowed me to report on user login information and determine who made what changes to AD when necessary.

  Steffenson, Shannon L

  Network Systems Manager

Oh wait! We offer a lot more than just an AD auditing tool

Windows File Server Auditing

Track accesses and modifications to shares, files, and folders in your Windows file server environment.

NAS device file auditing

Track file changes across Windows, NetApp, EMC, Synology, Hitachi, Huawei, Amazon FSx for Windows, QNAP, and Azure file servers.

Windows Servers auditing

Perform change monitoring on all activities across the Windows server environment in real-time.

Workstations auditing

Audit, alert, and report on critical user activities across workstations in real-time across workstations in real-time.

Azure AD auditing

Monitor and track all Azure Active Directory sign-ins and events across cloud and hybrid environments.

We're thrilled to be recognized as a Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice for Security Incident & Event Management (SIEM) for the fourth year in a row

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• Active Directory
• File servers
• Windows server
• Workstation
• Compliance
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