One attack vector clearly stands out: identity compromise, and more specifically Active Directory (AD). As the backbone of most IT environments, Active Directory has become a prime target for cybercriminals.
In this article, we explore the strategic role of Active Directory and the best practices organizations can adopt to reduce risk and strengthen operational resilience.
1. Active Directory: A Critical Asset in the Face of Ransomware
Active Directory is the cornerstone of identity and access management in the majority of IT environments. It centralizes user accounts, workstations, servers, and privilege levels while enforcing security policies across the organization. This centralization is essential for operational efficiency—but it also makes AD a high‑value target.
In the context of modern ransomware attacks, compromising Active Directory effectively means taking control of the infrastructure itself. Attackers no longer focus on encrypting isolated systems; their objective is to dominate the organization’s digital identity.
By obtaining elevated privileges, they can move laterally with ease, disable or bypass security controls, and deploy attacks in a coordinated and large‑scale manner. The result is a rapid disruption of operations and a severely compromised ability to recover.
Understanding the central role of Active Directory is therefore a fundamental step in any effective cybersecurity and business continuity strategy.
Domain controllers sit at the heart of this challenge. They handle authentication, access management, and the consistency of security policies. Their compromise—or even their unavailability—can trigger an immediate operational outage, blocking access to critical systems and significantly complicating incident recovery.
This reality is further amplified by today’s hybrid environments. Often synchronized with cloud services such as Entra ID, Active Directory extends digital identity well beyond the traditional perimeter. This interconnection increases the attack surface and magnifies the potential impact of a compromise. An identity‑focused attack can quickly escalate from a technical issue into a full‑scale business continuity crisis.
In this context, protecting Active Directory is no longer a purely technical concern—it has become a strategic lever for resilience against ransomware and major operational disruptions.
2. The Most Common Attacks Against Active Directory in 2025
In 2025, Active Directory remained a prime target for ransomware groups because it provides transversal access to digital identity and critical organizational resources. Attackers are no longer content with compromising a single endpoint. Their strategy is deliberate and methodical: reach AD, obtain elevated privileges, and then orchestrate the attack at scale.
Once identity is compromised, attackers can move laterally, prepare the environment, implant ransomware, and wait to trigger encryption at the most opportune moment—maximizing operational impact.
Most frequently observed tactics
Several techniques consistently appear in attacks targeting Active Directory:
• Initial access and credential compromise: targeted phishing campaigns or exploitation of weak configurations, followed by credential theft and privilege escalation
• Abuse of Active Directory objects: exploitation of Group Policy Objects (GPOs), excessive delegations, or trust relationships between domains to automate ransomware propagation
• Authentication service abuse: misuse of Kerberos or NTLM to facilitate lateral movement and progressively lock down the network
A now-familiar scenario
In 2025, multiple attacks observed in the healthcare sector clearly illustrate this modus operandi. Ransomware groups first compromised Active Directory, then disabled security controls, escalated privileges, and encrypted sensitive data. The impact extended far beyond IT systems, directly disrupting clinical and administrative operations.
In these scenarios, Active Directory acts as a pivot point, enabling attackers to rapidly expand their control across internal systems.
The conclusion is unequivocal: In modern attacks, compromising Active Directory is almost always a prerequisite to deploying ransomware. Without rapid detection, a localized intrusion can quickly escalate into a major business continuity crisis.
3. How to Protect Yourself in 2026: Building Lasting Resilience Around Active Directory
In 2026, protecting Active Directory can no longer rely solely on traditional preventive controls. As ransomware attacks increasingly target identity, organizations must adopt a resilience‑driven approach—one that reduces the attack surface, enables rapid detection of exploitable weaknesses, and, most importantly, ensures operational recovery within business‑acceptable timelines.
The first step remains strengthening identity security hygiene. Strict privilege governance, role separation, hardened configurations, and limited high‑risk access are essential. However, in an ever‑evolving threat landscape, these best practices must be supported by continuous assessments of Active Directory’s real exposure to modern attack techniques.
This is precisely where Purple Knight, the assessment tool developed by Semperis, fits in. Unlike purely reactive approaches, Purple Knight proactively analyzes the Active Directory environment to identify vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and indicators of exposure and compromise. This visibility enables IT and security teams to prioritize remediation efforts, reduce risk upstream, and strengthen their security posture before attackers can take advantage.
Beyond prevention, the ability to rapidly restore Active Directory has become a cornerstone of business continuity. When AD is compromised, reliably restoring objects, permissions, and security policies allows organizations to re‑establish authentication and access to critical systems without rebuilding the entire environment. This accelerated recovery capability significantly reduces downtime and the operational impact of a ransomware attack.
In this context, Active Directory should no longer be viewed as a simple technical component. It is a strategic asset at the core of organizational resilience, where protection and rapid recovery directly determine the organization’s ability to continue operating during a crisis.
4. NOVIPRO’s Contribution
In a comprehensive identity protection strategy, the role of an experienced partner is essential. As a Semperis partner, NOVIPRO supports organizations at every stage of their Active Directory security strategy—from risk assessment and solution deployment to day-to-day operations.
Beyond technology implementation, NOVIPRO provides continuous environment monitoring, enabling the rapid identification of abnormal behavior, configuration drift, and early warning signs of compromise. This proactive monitoring strengthens security posture and helps prevent incidents before they disrupt operations.
This expertise is part of a broader cybersecurity and IT resilience offering, encompassing access governance, hybrid environment protection, and business continuity reinforcement. The objective is clear: to provide organizations with a coherent, pragmatic, and operational view of security—fully aligned with their IT and business priorities.
Want to learn more about how to sustainably protect your Active Directory?