From the Field: Tiering Model

๐Ÿ”Ž๐—™๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—บ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—™๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฑ: Real-World Findings from Security Assessments

๐Ÿ“Œ๐Ÿด๐Ÿฒ% of infrastructures I analyzed had ๐—ป๐—ผ ๐—ง๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐— ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—น ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—”๐—ฐ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€ in place.

This is a critical oversight โ€” especially when attackers gain a foothold in your environment.

๐—›๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒโ€™๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ต๐˜† ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€:

๐Ÿšจ By default, Active Directory is too permissive

โ–ช๏ธ Privileged accounts can log in anywhere

โ–ช๏ธ There are escalation paths everywhere

โ–ช๏ธ Secrets get spread across the entire environment

Without access restrictions, attackers donโ€™t need zero-days โ€” they just move laterally.

๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ?

โœ” Implement a Tiering Model to control where privileged accounts can authenticate.

โœ” Restrict access between tiers.

โœ” Make secrets useless outside their designated tier.

This is one of the most effective defenses in Active Directory โ€” and it doesnโ€™t rely on patching vulnerabilities.

๐Ÿง  I explain Tiering Models and how to implement Access Restrictions in my ๐—ช๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐˜„๐˜€ ๐—œ๐—ป๐—ณ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ฒ โ€” perfect if you want to secure your AD the right way.

๐Ÿ” Are you using a Tiering Model in your environment?