Active Directory Permissions Delegation Best Practices

What is Active Directory (AD) Delegation?

Delegating control in Active Directory is important for security and compliance. The Delegation of Control Wizard in Microsoft Management Console (MMC) provides a simple way to grant users the authority to perform high-level tasks without being added to privileged groups such as Domain Admins and Account Operators. Creating a delegation model involves defining clear, limited roles to achieve balance between usability and separation.

How to Develop an Active Directory Delegation Model

Step 1: Create Roles & Responsibilities

Start by forming a set of administrator roles and assigning them appropriate tasks. It’s important to keep the number of roles as low as possible for efficient delegation control. Striking the right balance can be a challenge, as too many roles can lead to increased complexity and management challenges, but too few roles may not provide sufficient role separation. Below are some guidelines to follow when assigning roles:

Service administrators:

Enterprise Admins: Responsible for overall service administration throughout the enterprise. The group should not have any permanent members.

Domain Admins: Responsible for top-level service administration across the domain. Only a few trusted administrators should be part of this group.

Tier 4 Admins: Responsible for service administration across the domain. These admins are only granted the access rights necessary for managing required services and features. They act as the escalation point for data administrators.

Data administrators:

Tier 1 Admins: Responsible for managing directory objects such as password resets and user account properties.

Tier 2 Admins: Responsible for selectively creating and deleting user and computer accounts for their organization or location.

Regional Admins: Responsible for managing the local OU structure and have permissions to create most objects within their OU.

Tier 3 Admins: Responsible for managing all data administrators and serve as the top-tier helpdesk and escalation point for all regional admins.

Step 2: Delegate Duties

Create a set of usage scenarios to assist in identifying what each role is capable and incapable of doing. Thoroughly prepared usage scenarios will aid in clarifying the responsibilities to stakeholders within your organization and guarantee proper task allocation. When defining duties, sort them by frequency, significance and complexity.

Active Directory container ACLs determine which objects can be generated and how these objects are administered. The delegation of permissions pertains to basic object operations like viewing an object, constructing a child object of a particular class, or read attribute and security information on objects of a specified class. Aside from these basic operations, Active Directory designates Extended Rights that empower functions like Send As and Manage Replication Topology.

Streamline testing procedures to ensure that each role performs as expected.

Step 3: Establish an OU Security Model

After identifying roles and responsibilities, it is essential to establish an OU and security group model. Initially, a top-level OU (or set of OUs) must be created beneath the domain to contain all objects. This top-level OU defines the advanced management scope for Tier 4 Admins. Consequently, it is possible to grant rights over the directory service at the OU level rather than the domain level.

Next, it is imperative to create separate sub-OU hierarchies below the top-level OUs for each region or business unit that manages discrete data. Each regional sub-OU should have an identical, non-expandable hierarchy for directory object management purposes.

Finally, to prevent administrators from abusing their privileges, separate sub-admin groups must be created – such as a Tier 1 Admins, a Tier 2 Admins, and a Regional Admins group for each sub-OU hierarchy. Appropriate accounts must be placed in the appropriate group. By separating these accounts based on OU, management can be constrained to their level or below, avoiding any privilege elevation attempts.

Step 4: Enforce “Least Privilege” Access

To ensure a successful delegation model, it is important to adhere to the principle of least privilege, which ensures that users and service accounts are only allowed to perform tasks necessary for their roles. Essentially, administrators should log in as regular users and only use their privileged rights as needed.

To achieve this without requiring users to constantly log in and out, the Secondary Logon service (Runas.exe) can be utilized. By providing alternate credentials, this service allows users to elevate their privileges when executing scripts or executables on servers and workstations.

Active Directory Permissions Delegation Best Practices

Below is our list of best practices for delegating Active Directory permissions.

1. Use good OU design: Organizational Unit (OU) design plays a crucial role in AD delegation. A well-structured OU design allows for more granular delegation, making it easier to assign specific administrative tasks to delegated administrators. It provides a clear hierarchy and simplifies the management and maintenance of permissions.
2. Don’t use built-in groups: Avoid using built-in groups like Domain Admins or Enterprise Admins for delegation purposes. These groups have broad and powerful permissions that can pose a significant security risk if misused. Instead, create new groups and assign them the necessary permissions based on the principle of least privilege.
3. Use nested OUs: Utilizing nested OUs allows for a more flexible and scalable delegation model. It enables administrators to delegate control at different levels of the AD structure, providing a fine-grained control mechanism. Nested OUs also help in organizing and managing resources more efficiently.
4. Delegate Control to Groups, not users: Delegating control to groups rather than individual users simplifies administration and enhances scalability. By assigning permissions to groups, it becomes easier to manage membership and access rights, especially when there are changes in personnel or job roles.
5. Perform yearly audits of delegation control: Yearly audits of delegation control help ensure that the assigned permissions are still valid and aligned with the organization’s requirements. It helps identify any excessive permissions, outdated delegations, or potential security risks. Regular audits enhance security and maintain the principle of least privilege.
6. Perform regular audits of privileged access: Auditing privileged access helps detect and mitigate any unauthorized or excessive permissions granted to privileged accounts. Regular audits of privileged access can identify security vulnerabilities and ensure that administrative privileges are assigned based on business needs and adhere to security best practices.
7. Audit your AD environment for suspicious activity: Implementing auditing mechanisms to monitor and detect suspicious activity in the AD environment is crucial for security. Auditing allows you to track changes, access attempts, and other events that may indicate potential security breaches. Timely detection and investigation of suspicious activity can help mitigate risks and prevent further compromise.
8. Use PoLP model: The Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) limits access rights to the minimum necessary for users or administrators to perform their tasks. Implementing the PoLP model in AD delegation helps reduce the risk of unauthorized access, minimize potential damage from insider threats, and maintain a more secure environment overall.
9. Use RBAC: Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) simplifies and standardizes permissions management by associating specific roles or job functions with predefined sets of permissions. RBAC enhances security by ensuring that users have only the permissions required for their respective roles, reducing the attack surface and enforcing least privilege.
10. Backup & Restore delegation permissions: Regularly backing up delegation permissions allows for quick recovery in case of accidental removal or loss of permissions. This practice ensures that delegated administrators can continue their tasks without disruption and minimizes the risk of potential data loss or unauthorized access.

How to Delegate Administrator Privileges in Active Directory

The Delegation of Control Wizard simplifies the process of granting permissions in Active Directory. To allow a group to create, manage, and delete user accounts in the All Users OU of your AD domain, follow these steps:

• Launch the Active Directory Users and Computers console.
• Right-click on the All Users OU and select Delegate Control. Then click on the Next button.
• On the Users or Groups page of the wizard, hit the Add button.
• Input the name of the group in the Select Users, Computers or Groups dialog box. Verify the name by clicking the Check Names button and then press OK.
• Check that the selected group’s name is present on the Users or Groups page, and then click Next.
• Select Create, delete, and manage user accounts from the Tasks to Delegate page, and then click Next.
• Confirm the details on the final page of the wizard and press the Finish button.

To verify that the permissions were added correctly, examine the Security tab of the target OU’s properties.

How Lepide Helps with Active Directory Permission Analysis and Auditing

Lepide Data Security Platform is a comprehensive solution that assists organizations in analyzing and auditing Active Directory permissions effectively. With its range of features, the platform offers valuable insights into permission configurations, detects security vulnerabilities, and helps ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

The platform provides a clear and centralized view of AD permissions, allowing administrators to easily understand who has access to what resources within the directory. It presents a comprehensive list of permissions associated with users, groups, and other AD objects.

Lepide Data Security Platform also enables detailed analysis of permissions by offering various reports and visualizations. It helps identify over-permissioned accounts, unused or orphaned permissions, and inconsistencies in access control settings. This analysis helps organizations fine-tune their permissions model and adhere to the principle of least privilege.

The platform tracks and audits changes made to AD permissions. It captures information such as who made the change, when it occurred, and what was modified. This auditing capability helps organizations detect unauthorized changes, identify potential security breaches, and investigate any suspicious activities related to permissions.

Lepide Data Security Platform provides real-time alerts for critical events related to AD permissions. It notifies administrators about permission changes, unauthorized access attempts, or any deviations from defined access control policies. These alerts allow for immediate action and timely response to potential security incidents.

Finally, Lepide Data Security Platform maintains a historical record of permission changes and access events, allowing administrators to analyze past activities and track the evolution of permissions over time. This historical analysis helps in identifying trends, detecting patterns of abuse, and investigating incidents retrospectively.

If you’d like to see how the Lepide Data Security Platform can help you monitor privileges in Active Directory, schedule a demo with one of our engineers.