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    Group Policy

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    mateigeorgescu80
    Group policy objects (GPOs) allow system administrators to centrally manage security settings, software installations, and configurations for users and computers within an Active Directory domain. GPOs are applied in a predictable order and provide benefits like standardized environments for new users, one-stop administration of updates, and enforced password policies. While GPOs ease management, their updates occur infrequently and the editor can be unintuitive, plus attackers may try to circumvent GPO security settings. Monitoring tools can detect unauthorized GPO changes and help stop data breaches.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Group Policy

    Uploaded by

    mateigeorgescu80
    61 views3 pages
    Group policy objects (GPOs) allow system administrators to centrally manage security settings, software installations, and configurations for users and computers within an Active Directory domain. GPOs are applied in a predictable order and provide benefits like standardized environments for new users, one-stop administration of updates, and enforced password policies. While GPOs ease management, their updates occur infrequently and the editor can be unintuitive, plus attackers may try to circumvent GPO security settings. Monitoring tools can detect unauthorized GPO changes and help stop data breaches.

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    Group policy objects (GPOs) allow system administrators to centrally manage security settings, software installations, and configurations for users and computers within an Active Directory domain. GPOs are applied in a predictable order and provide benefits like standardized environments for new users, one-stop administration of updates, and enforced password policies. While GPOs ease management, their updates occur infrequently and the editor can be unintuitive, plus attackers may try to circumvent GPO security settings. Monitoring tools can detect unauthorized GPO changes and help stop data breaches.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    61 views3 pages

    Group Policy

    Uploaded by

    mateigeorgescu80
    Group policy objects (GPOs) allow system administrators to centrally manage security settings, software installations, and configurations for users and computers within an Active Directory domain. GPOs are applied in a predictable order and provide benefits like standardized environments for new users, one-stop administration of updates, and enforced password policies. While GPOs ease management, their updates occur infrequently and the editor can be unintuitive, plus attackers may try to circumvent GPO security settings. Monitoring tools can detect unauthorized GPO changes and help stop data breaches.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    According https://www.varonis.

    com/blog/group-policy/
    Group policy is a feature of Microsoft Windows Active Directory that adds additional controls to
    user and computer accounts. Group policies provide centralized management and operating
    systems configurations of user’s computing environments. Group policies are another method of
    securing user’s computers from infiltration and data breaches.

    If you care about data security, you need to understand group policies. We will discuss what
    group policies and GPOs are and how system administrators use them to protect, secure, and
    lock down computers and user accounts. We will also discuss how attackers can disable group
    policies as part of their infiltration.

    What is Group Policy Object (GPO)?

    A Group Policy Object is a collection of settings systems administrators create with the
    Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Group Policy Editor. The GPO can be associated with
    one or more of the Active Directory containers, such as sites, domains, or organizational units
    (OUs).

    How Group Policy Objects Are Processed


    Active Directory applies GPOs in the following predictable and logical order.

    1. Local policies
    2. Site policies
    3. Domain policies
    4. OU policies
    GPOs in nested OUs apply from the OU closest to the root first, and then continue from
    there

    Do I Need a Group Policy?


    Assuming the goal of your organization is to become more secure, then yes, you need to
    understand and implement group policies.

    Out-of-the-box Windows isn’t secure. Shocking.


    There are ways to rectify those deficiencies through GPOs. Microsoft didn’t assume how you
    wanted to secure your systems, but GPOs can move you closer.

    For example, with GPOs you can completely disable Local Administrator rights globally in your
    network and instead, grant administrative permissions to a single individual or group based on
    their job. Ideally, you are implementing a least-privileged model where even the system
    administrators are limited to administering only the servers they are assigned.

    Group policies can disable outdated protocols like SSLv2, prevent users from making changes to
    local group policies, and much more.

    Benefits of Group Policy

    There are several advantages to implementing GPOs outside of security.

    • Ease of management: Setting up new users on the network used to be a long and tedious
    process. Pre-existing GPOs apply a standardized environment to each new user and
    computer that joins your domain which saves many hours of configurations.
    • One-stop administration: Sysadmins can deploy patches, software, and other updates
    via GPO.
    • Password policy enforcement: Passwords can be easily brute-forced if they aren’t
    changed regularly, contain simple words, or are short. GPOs establish length, reuse rules,
    and other requirements for passwords to keep your network safe.
    • Folder redirections: Do you want users to keep important company files on a
    centralized and monitored storage system? Use a folder redirection GPO to redirect their
    user folder to your NAS.

    Limitations of Group Policy

    By now it sounds like GPOs are the bee’s knees. There are a few pitfalls to using GPOs you want
    to consider before you dive in headfirst.

    GPOs update randomly every 90 to 120 minutes or so, or when the computer gets rebooted. You
    can specify an update rate from 0 to 64,800 minutes (or 45 days), but if you select 0 minutes, the
    computer tries to update GPOs every 7 seconds. That’s going to murder a network with traffic. If
    you must implement an emergency GPO update, you have to keep this in mind and use another
    method to get users to reboot.

    Also, the GPO editor isn’t the best and most intuitive thing in the world. You can learn to use
    PowerShell instead to make all the updates, which could be easier for a command line person.

    If you do implement GPOs, consider the possibility that an attacker tries to circumvent security
    by changing local GPOs on a computer they have infiltrated. For example, if you locked down
    the Local Administrator account with a GPO, an attacker can try to reverse that GPO and take
    over Local Admin. Or they might re-enable a less secure network protocol. Varonis monitors for
    changes in GPOs and warns you of those changes, which can help you stop a data breach.

    Want to see how Varonis can automatically detect GPO changes and disable an attacker’s stolen
    account? Get a free 1:1 demo to see Varonis in action – and see how to monitor GPO changes.

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