Semperis Enhances Hybrid Active Directory Security With New Offering for Azure AD

By AIT News Desk On Sep 30, 2021

The latest version of Directory Services Protector (DSP) provides a complete picture of risk exposure in hybrid environments and monitors cyber threats in both Active Directory and Azure Active Directory in a single view.

Semperis , a pioneer in identity-oriented cyber-resilience for enterprises, announced the preview release of Directory Services Protector 3.6, which simplifies identity security management in hybrid environments that use both on-premises Active Directory and Azure Active Directory. New DSP capabilities for detection and resolution of security risks in hybrid identity environments solve the challenge that organizations face in combating the increase in attacks that penetrate organizations through local AD and then move to the cloud —or vice versa — as happened in the attack on SolarWinds.

“There are many challenges in protecting hybrid identity environments, starting with the basic fact that, from a technical point of view, Active Directory and Azure Active Directory have little in common, other than name,” said Mickey Bresman. , CEO of Semperis. “Azure AD offers a different protocol stack that requires a very different approach to management, including protecting the identity system from cyberattacks. In a hybrid scenario, the potential attack surface is widened for opponents. It is quite common for attacks to start locally and move to the cloud, or go from the cloud to local. ”

In hybrid AD environments, DSP displays a single view of both AD and Azure AD security indicators – allowing IT teams to correlate changes in the on-premises and cloud environments that could be indicative of an attack in progress. In a recent 451 Research report, analyst Garrett Bekker pointed out the challenges of protecting hybrid identity systems.

“The natural importance of directories has increased due to the current migration of resources to the cloud, since each ‘cloud’ – be it an IaaS platform or a SaaS application – usually has its own identity repository in which they need work the applications, “says Bekker. “Consequently, keeping directories in a secure state has become a considerable challenge, partly due to the fact that most directories are constantly in flux, as a result of new users being added or relocated, as well as the installation of new applications. ” To request access to the report,

Semperis DSP simplifies the protection of hybrid AD environments:

Offering a single view of pre- and post-attack indicators in both Active Directory and Azure Active Directory
Offering the ability to track changes in near real time in Azure Active Directory and perform hybrid lookups in both Active Directory and Azure AD
Illustrating actions that are started locally and extend to Azure AD
Generating a risk profile assigned to MITER ATT & CK and other security frameworks
Continually evaluating and improving the security position of Hybrid AD to defend against attacks

Coinciding with the release of Directory Services Protector 3.6, Semperis has just released a new white paper that addresses the major challenges of protecting a hybrid Active Directory environment, “Securing Hybrid Active Directory Environments: A Practical Guide to Closing Security Gaps in Active Directory and Azure Active Directory »(Active Directory Hybrid Environment Protection – A Practical Guide to Resolving Security Gaps in Active Directory and Azure Active Directory . This resource, written by Doug Davis, Senior Product Manager at Semperis, helps organizations defend the expanded attack surface caused by a hybrid identity environment.

In addition to providing comprehensive threat protection for hybrid AD environments, Directory Services Protector provides frequent security indicators in a continuous release cycle to resolve threats detected by the Semperis research team or in response to externally emerging threats. Recent posts resulting from private work by the Semperis research team include flags for the critical vulnerability of Windows Print Spooler ( PrintNightmare ) and PetitPotam , which can allow an attacker to obtain all domain administrator permissions for an organization.

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