This is the first overview-post of a new series "AD Security Roadmap". In this first post, we propose a roadmap to gradually improve your Active Directory security posture. Instead of trying to fix everything at once, this approach breaks the work into clear, achievable milestones. Each step reinforcing the next.
Every month, we’ll publish a focused blog post that dives deeper into the corresponding theme. Each article will highlight practical guidance, real-world pitfalls, and actionable takeaways to help organizations turn AD security best practices into concrete improvements.
Taken together, these posts create a structured learning journey, from foundational hygiene and privilege reduction to stronger hardening and long-term resilience across your Active Directory environment.
AD Security Roadmap 2026
Credential Exposure & Password Hygiene
How to reduce credential exposure by enforcing strong password practices and eliminating insecure storage.
Privileged Account Control
How to minimize high-risk privileged access by reducing Domain Admin sprawl and separating admin identities.
Kerberos Abuse Prevention
How to prevent Kerberos-based attacks by fixing common misconfigurations and disabling weak encryption.
Active Directory Permissions & Object Abuse
How to stop AD object abuse by tightening permissions, limiting account creation, and securing DNS controls.
LDAP Security & Directory Exposure
How to reduce directory exposure by enforcing LDAP signing and blocking unauthenticated enumeration.
SMB, NTLM & Legacy Authentication Hardening
How to harden legacy authentication by enforcing SMB signing and strengthening NTLM/LAN Manager settings.
Network Poisoning & Name Resolution Abuse
How to reduce poisoning risks by disabling legacy name resolution protocols and mitigating DHCPv6 abuse.
Operational Freeze
How to maintain stability by avoiding structural AD changes while keeping monitoring and hygiene active.
Lateral Movement & Local Privilege Control
How to limit attacker movement by removing local admin sprawl and hardening RDP access.
Remote Access & Legacy Service Exposure
How to reduce exposure by securing remote tools and eliminating unsupported or end-of-life systems.
Residual Infrastructure Risks
How to verify that critical hardening controls (SMB/LDAP) are consistently enforced across the environment.
Privileged Access Finalization
How to finalize privileged access hardening by completing Domain Admin reduction and enforcing strict separation.
Congrats!
You completed the AD Security Roadmap.