Active Directory Domain Services + Authentication

The Active Directory domain services are the core functions of an Active Directory network; they allow for management of the domain, security certificates, LDAPs, and much more. This is how the domain controller decides what it wants to do and what services it wants to provide for the domain.

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Domain Services Overview -

Domain Services are exactly what they sound like. They are services that the domain controller provides to the rest of the domain or tree. There is a wide range of various services that can be added to a domain controller; however, in this room we'll only be going over the default services that come when you set up a Windows server as a domain controller. Outlined below are the default domain services:

• LDAP - Lightweight Directory Access Protocol; provides communication between applications and directory services

• Certificate Services - allows the domain controller to create, validate, and revoke public key certificates

• DNS, LLMNR, NBT-NS - Domain Name Services for identifying IP hostnames

Domain Authentication Overview -

The most important part of Active Directory -- as well as the most vulnerable part of Active Directory -- is the authentication protocols set in place. There are two main types of authentication in place for Active Directory: NTLM and Kerberos. Since these will be covered in more depth in later rooms we will not be covering past the very basics needed to understand how they apply to Active Directory as a whole. For more information on NTLM and Kerberos check out the Attacking Kerberos room - https://tryhackme.com/room/attackingkerberos.

• Kerberos - The default authentication service for Active Directory uses ticket-granting tickets and service tickets to authenticate users and give users access to other resources across the domain.

• NTLM - default Windows authentication protocol uses an encrypted challenge/response protocol

The Active Directory domain services are the main access point for attackers and contain some of the most vulnerable protocols for Active Directory, this will not be the last time you see them mentioned in terms of Active Directory security.

What type of authentication uses tickets?

What domain service can create, validate, and revoke public key certificates?