I’ve been working with Active Directory (AD) long enough to know one thing: it’s both the backbone and the Achilles’ heel of most enterprise environments. Even as cloud-first identity platforms like Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) take center stage, AD still runs the show for countless legacy apps, privileged accounts, and on-premises systems. And that’s where the cracks start to show.
Why I’m Talking About This
Back in 2019, I was running a recovery demo on Server 2016. A simple password policy misconfiguration bricked the VM—black screen, no logon, just silence. That moment taught me that AD’s native controls, while functional, often lag behind the threats we face today. Fast forward to 2025, ransomware operators are automating credential harvesting, password spraying is industrialized, and regulations like NIS2 are breathing down our necks.
So, when I read about vendors like Specops stepping in to close the gaps Microsoft hasn’t, I couldn’t help but nod. I’ve tested some of these solutions in dev environments, and the difference is night and day.
Step-by-Step: Where AD Trips Up
- Password Policies
- Microsoft’s fine-grained password policies are… fine. But they’re rigid. No regex, no custom dictionaries, no passphrase strategies.
- I once tried enforcing a “no company name in passwords” rule. Native AD just shrugged. Specops, on the other hand, let me build a forbidden-word dictionary.
- Compromised Credentials
- Here’s the contradiction: a password can be long, complex, and still useless if it’s in a breach database.
- Microsoft’s banned-password list is decent, but it’s limited. Specops checks against billions of compromised passwords daily. I’ve seen it flag accounts mid-demo—surprising, but reassuring.
- Self-Service Password Reset (SSPR)
- Ever spent an hour debugging a typo in a helpdesk ticket? Multiply that by 40% of tickets being password resets.
- Microsoft’s hybrid SSPR works if you’ve got Entra ID licenses and writeback configured. But on-prem AD alone? You’re stuck. Specops uReset, tested on my ThinkPad Hyper-V lab, gave users a reset option right at the Windows logon screen.
- MFA for AD Logon
- This one still stings. Microsoft doesn’t offer native MFA for AD logons. Smart Cards and Windows Hello are the closest options.
- Specops Secure Access adds MFA to Windows logon, RDP, and VPN. I tested push notifications and YubiKey in my lab—it worked seamlessly, even offline with OTP codes.
Lessons Learned
- Don’t assume complexity equals security. A “strong” password can still be compromised.
- Licensing matters. Microsoft’s best features often hide behind premium tiers.
- Third-party tools aren’t just nice-to-haves. In AD’s case, they’re survival gear.
Final Thoughts
Active Directory isn’t going away anytime soon. Microsoft is betting on Entra ID and passwordless futures, but the reality in most enterprises is messier. If you’re running AD, you need to plug the gaps yourself—whether through Specops or another vendor.
It was a humid evening in Bengaluru when I finally got MFA working on my test lab’s RDP sessions. The relief was real. But it also reminded me: AD security isn’t about one big fix. It’s about layering defenses, testing relentlessly, and staying ahead of attackers who never sleep.
