It’s no surprise that identity infrastructure, particularly Active Directory (AD), is a primary target for attackers. According to Gartner’s Market Guide for Identity Governance and Administration, more than 90% of Global 2000 organizations rely on AD for core identity and access management.
Yet, despite its critical role as the central nervous system of enterprise IT, AD security is often neglected, leaving it vulnerable to sophisticated attacks that can bring an entire organization to its knees.
The consequences of a compromised AD can be catastrophic, including widespread operational disruption, significant data loss, and a complete loss of trust. When attackers gain control of AD, they hold the keys to the kingdom – and they are able to move laterally, escalate privileges, and deploy ransomware with devastating efficiency.
Best Practices for Future-Proof AD Resilience
Achieving true AD resilience requires a strategic blend of proactive defence, meticulous planning, and robust recovery capabilities. This is not merely about having backups; it’s about cultivating a resilience-first mindset and implementing a multi-faceted strategy.
1. AD forest recovery: Planning for the worst-case scenario
A complete forest recovery remains the ultimate test of AD resilience. This involves the ability to restore the entire AD environment to a known-good state after catastrophic corruption or compromise.
- Maintain regular, offline backups of all domain controllers.
- Document and periodically validate the forest recovery process through tabletop exercises and simulations.
- Leverage tools like Microsoft’s AD Forest Recovery Guide or third-party automated solutions that reduce recovery time.
- Recovery images should remain secure, offline, and immutable.
Without these preparations, organizations risk prolonged outages, as recovering AD manually without a plan can be highly complex, error-prone, and time-consuming.
2. Entra ID recovery: Protecting and recovering break-glass accounts
Beyond restoring the forest, organizations should build resilience through Entra ID recovery – protecting and rapidly recovering break-glass accounts used in emergencies.
- Maintain dedicated, highly secure and monitored administrative accounts that are disconnected from regular directory services (Tier-0 accounts).
- Store credentials for these accounts in secure vaults (e.g., CyberArk, Azure Key Vault) with strict access controls.
- Regularly rotate credentials and audit access logs.
- Simulate account lockout or compromise scenarios to validate the recovery process.
- Entra IDs have to be excluded from regular AD sync processes with cloud environments to reduce exposure.
These accounts should be protected as crown jewels since their compromise could derail recovery efforts entirely.
3. Proactive hardening and monitoring
This forms the bedrock of any effective AD security program. Organizations should implement a tiered access model to enforce the principle of least privilege, so that users and administrators only have access to the resources absolutely necessary for their roles.
Regularly auditing for misconfigurations, such as weak password policies or excessive permissions, is crucial. Furthermore, deploying advanced threat detection and response solutions provides real-time visibility into suspicious activities, helping enable security teams to identify and neutralize threats before they can escalate.
4. Immutable backup and recovery readiness
Backups should be stored in an immutable, air-gapped location to protect against encryption or deletion by ransomware. This provides a clean recovery point.
Recovery readiness goes a step further by regularly validating the integrity and recoverability of these backups. By automatically testing the recovery process in an isolated environment, organizations can confirm that their backups are not only safe but also fully functional, reducing the risk of a failed recovery during a real crisis.
A Unified Front: The HCLTech and Commvault Joint Solution
HCLTech and Commvault have forged a powerful partnership to deliver a comprehensive, end-to-end identity resilience solution that automates forest-level recovery for AD, helping reduce downtime from days or weeks to hours. With Commvault and HCLTech, customers can expect:
- Knowledge and strategic guidance from the experts at HCLTech to design, implement, and sustain a resilient AD environment aligned with zero-trust principles.
- Proactive hardening, regular testing, and continuous monitoring.
- A comprehensive, tailored recovery plan that includes automated forest-level recovery enabled by the industry-leading capabilities of Commvault Cloud.
- Unified protection of hybrid identity systems (AD + Entra ID) that simplifies operations and reduces tool sprawl, enabling consistent security across environments.
Together, HCLTech and Commvault provide a truly holistic approach to identity security and business continuity. By combining Commvault’s rapid, automated recovery technology with HCLTech’s strategic, security-first services, organizations are equipped not just to survive an AD-related disaster, but to emerge stronger.
This unified front helps keep your most critical identity infrastructure ready for the worst-case scenario, delivering a rapid, clean, and reliable recovery when it matters most. Don’t wait for a crisis to test your defenses. The time to act is now. Take the first step toward true AD resilience and help your organization prepare for any eventuality.
To learn more and demo the solution, visit the Active Directory solution page.