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Downtime Is Dangerous: Why Identity Resilience is Now Mission-Critical for Healthcare

Beyond Access: How Healthcare IT Can Cut Costs, Shrink Attack Surfaces, and Protect Patient Data with Smart Automation

In healthcare, behind every login is a nurse, a physician, and—most importantly—a patient in need. When identity systems fail, care delivery comes to a halt. That reality has been underscored by recent breaches, where stolen credentials, dormant admin accounts, and lateral movement across hybrid systems have caused not just IT outages, but also treatment delays, patient diversions, and canceled surgeries.

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NTLM Relay Attack Prevention: A Checklist for Active Directory Security

TL;DR Active Directory environments face severe risks from an NTLM relay attack, which exploits the lack of mutual authentication in legacy protocols to intercept credentials and gain unauthorized network access. Organizations can mitigate these vulnerabilities by phasing out NTLM in favor of Kerberos, enforcing SMB signing, and implementing strict privilege

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Cayosoft joins the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association

Enhanced Windows LAPS Password View and Management

Introduction  In our commitment to provide robust Active Directory, Entra ID, and M365 security, monitoring, and recovery Cayosoft Guardian is rolling out new features designed to make your security processes more streamlined and secure. With the latest update, we’re introducing modern LAPS management capabilities directly in the product.  Feature Highlights 

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Enhanced Security and Deployment with gMSA and AD Connector

In our commitment to provide robust Active Directory, Entra ID, and M365 security, monitoring, and recovery Cayosoft Guardian is rolling out new features designed to make your security processes more streamlined and secure. With the latest update, we’re introducing Group Managed Service Account (gMSA) integration and the AD Connector feature,

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Active Directory Security Best Practices: Key NSA Guidelines

Most global businesses run hybrid AD environments, and following active directory security best practices is critical when combining on-premises and cloud services to secure both Active Directory (AD) and Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD). Both systems manage identity and access control, making them prime targets for attackers aiming to

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K-12 Ransomware Protection: Securing Schools’ AD & Entra ID

As K-12 schools increasingly rely on digital services and key infrastructure such as Active Directory and Entra ID for authentication and access to support education services. We continue to see an increase with being targeted by Ransomware groups and falling victim to ransomware attacks, putting sensitive data and education services

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Qilin Ransomware: How to Detect & Protect Against This Exploit

Qilin ransomware has emerged as a significant threat to organizations, particularly those relying heavily on Active Directory for managing their IT infrastructure. Qilin ransomware has adopted a new method for stealing credentials from Google Chrome browsers by leveraging Active Directory Group Policy. In this guide, we will explore how Qilin

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FSMO Roles: The Hidden Key to Resilient Active Directory

At the heart of every well-functioning Active Directory (AD) environment lies a set of unsung heroes: Flexible Single Master Operation (FSMO) roles. These specialized roles hold the keys to your AD’s resilience, stability, and recoverability. While they may not be the most glamorous aspect of AD management, understanding and safeguarding

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Mastering Microsoft 365 Governance: Active Directory Guide

TL;DR Effective Microsoft 365 governance relies on strategic Active Directory management to secure user identities, enforce role-based access control, and automate the user lifecycle in hybrid environments. By utilizing automation and centralized reporting, organizations can mitigate security risks, streamline administrative tasks, and maintain strict regulatory compliance across all group types.

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Managing Active Directory in a Zero Trust World

Applying a Zero Trust strategy to Active Directory management reduces your identity threat landscape, enhances access controls and segmentation, enforces just-in-time access, and improves monitoring and incident response. Overall, this approach strengthens your identity platform and makes it more resilient. In this blog, learn how Zero Trust strategy and principles

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Securing Active Directory Against DCSync Attacks

DCSync attacks remain a persistent threat to Active Directory (AD) security. These attacks cleverly exploit normal AD replication processes, allowing hackers to secretly extract sensitive password hashes. This access can pave the way for widespread exploits across your network. Given the prevalence of DCSync attacks, IT professionals must be equipped

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Active Directory Best Practices for Management in 2026

TL;DR Modern organizations must prioritize Active Directory best practices by transitioning from manual management to automated workflows to mitigate risks like human error and sophisticated cyberattacks. Implementing strategies such as the principle of least privilege, automated user lifecycle management, and continuous auditing ensures a secure and resilient IT infrastructure. In

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Securing SYSVOL: Threats, Protection, and Recovery

What is SYSVOL and Why is it Important? For many IT professionals, the system volume (SYSVOL) might seem like just another shared folder. However, if not properly protected, it represents a critical security vulnerability within every Active Directory domain controller. SYSVOL stores the essential files and scripts that govern user

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Active Directory Software: Top 7 Enterprise Requirements

Understanding the Complexities of Enterprise IT Security The Microsoft Digital Defense Report reveals a concerning trend: 93% of Microsoft’s ransomware incident response engagements uncovered insufficient controls on privilege access and lateral movement. This illustrates that companies need to strengthen their user management and security in 2024. The growing trend underlines

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Active Directory Authentication Explained

Getting Smart with Active Directory Authentication Let’s talk about Active Directory authentication, a key player in your IT environment’s security. In simple terms, it’s like the main gatekeeper of your organization’s IT environment, deciding who gets in and what they can do. This isn’t just about keeping bad guys out,

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Active Directory Cleanup: Top 8 Best Practices

TL;DR Regular Active Directory cleanup optimizes system performance and strengthens security by removing obsolete objects, inactive accounts, and unoptimized Group Policy Objects. Implementing automated monitoring and metadata maintenance ensures long-term regulatory compliance while reducing the risks associated with unauthorized access and replication errors. Top Best Practices for Optimal Performance |

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Active Directory Schema: Essentials & Backup Strategy

Understanding Active Directory Schema Before we dive into the backup, let’s clear up what an Active Directory schema is. Simply put, the Active Directory schema is a set of definitions that outline what kinds of objects and information about those objects can be stored in Active Directory. Think of it

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Why You Need to Recover Active Directory Forest

Essential Considerations to Recover Your Active Directory Forest Active Directory isn’t just a part of your IT infrastructure, it’s the forgotten central hub that keeps everything running smoothly. But with great power comes great responsibility – and vulnerability. It’s a primary target for attackers and any disruption will send ripple

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Enhancing IT Agility with Automated User Provisioning in Active Directory

Understanding Automated User Provisioning in Active Directory In the world of IT, manual management of user provisioning and deprovisioning feels as outdated as a floppy disk. Just imagine trying to juggle countless user profiles across diverse on-premise and cloud environments—it’s a logistical nightmare. Enter the era of automated user provisioning

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Selecting the Right Tools to Manage Active Directory in 2024

How to Choose the Best Tools to Manage Active Directory In the changing world of IT management, choosing the right tools to manage Active Directory is very important. Active Directory is the main system for managing identities and access in your organization. It needs a strong solution that simplifies operations,

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Is it Time for your Microsoft Enterprise Agreement Renewal?

Resources to Optimize Microsoft 365 (Formerly Office 365) License Management and Reduce Costs For organizations with 500 or more users or devices, that want a more manageable volume licensing program, the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA) provides the ability to buy cloud services and software licenses under one agreement. These enterprise agreements are

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Microsoft PowerShell as Open Source

Microsoft Open Sources PowerShell, Drives Modernization and Opens Opportunities In a bold move to make PowerShell more appealing and more available for non-windows systems, Microsoft has released PowerShell as Open Source.  At the same time, Microsoft also announced it will make PowerShell available on Linux one of the most popular implementations

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10 signs an Active Directory Management Tool is a Dinosaur!

Existing Active Directory tools were created more than ten years ago – before AD hybrid became a mission critical enterprise requirement. Vendors made things worse by failing to improve and evolve their products turning them into big, unwieldy and expensive dinosaurs headed for extinction. Customers know replacing a tool takes work, but the rewards can be

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PowerShell to Stop Office 365 Azure AD Connect Synchronized

PowerShell to Stop Office 365 Azure AD Connect Synchronized The Office 365 Administrative console will not allow you to delete objects that are synchronized with Active Directory. $credential = Get-Credential Import-Module MsOnline Connect-MsolService -Credential $credential Set-MsolDirSyncEnabled –EnableDirSync $false After disabling Synchronization you should be able to delete objects. If you are

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Exchange 2016 Active Directory schema changes

Exchange 2016 Active Directory schema changes   Exchange Server 2016 adds several new schema changes to Active Directory. Classes, Attributes, Indexes, GC attributes and object IDs should be reviewed carfully to fully understand what will be changed in your Active Directory. Read more on TechNet about Exchange 2016 Active Directory

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How to remove your last Exchange Server in a Hybrid Deployment

There are challenges to removing the last Exchange Server when you move to Office 365. In order to keep things working properly the synchronization between Active Directory (AD) and Office 365 becomes critical to keeping things running smoothly. Both Azure AD Connect and the predecessor DirSync, solve the problem and both are free. Both

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Microsoft adds great reporting to Office 365 Portal

Microsoft adds great reporting to Office 365 Portal The new Office 365 portal is a big improvement over the previous iteration. And now Microsoft has released some excellent reporting capabilities. The reports are clear and explain the information in enough detail to be useful, without being overwhelming. To learn more about

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Powershell to start a sync for Azure AD Connect 1.1

How to use Powershell to start a sync for Azure AD Connect 1.1 First, Navigate to Start > All Programs > Synchronization Service and verify that it has been more than 30 minutes from the last Sync. Next, Open a PowerShell Window and Enter the following: PS C:\Users\Administrator> import-module adsync PS

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Office 365 Conflicting License Plan Problem with Microsoft Project

Office 365 Conflicting License Plan Problem with Microsoft Project Office 365 customers who script license assignment and decide to offer their users Microsoft Project, may run into a problem with conflicting SharePoint plan option assignment. The E1 or G1 plans available in your tenant, it will have SharePoint Plan 1  option assigned. Assigning Microsoft

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Changing the Default Office 365 DirSync Schedule

Changing the Default Office 365 DirSync Schedule – not so fast! The default DirSync/AD Connect synchronization schedule is one time every three hours. Another well known vendors has arbitrarily recommended that the <add key=”SyncTimeInterval” value=”3:0:0″ /> value that controls this schedule be reduced to once ever 10 minutes. This change should not be

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Office 365 Product Review Cayosoft Administrator

Office 365 Product Review Cayosoft Administrator – Steve Goodman, noted Microsoft MVP and recognized expert Exchange consultant, reviewed Cayosoft Administrator, giving it a 4.8 out of 5 on MSExchange.org. This score won Cayosoft Administrator the MSExchange.org Gold award, the highest it assigns for reviewed products. You can read the review Office 365

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Office 365 Certification Study Guides

Office 365 Certification Study Guides FREE STUDY GUIDES Office 365 Certification Study Guides Exams: 70-346 & 70-346 Our Office 365 Certification Study Guides are written by exam MVP Anders Eide, these free Office 365 study guides will give you a solid understand of both the exam topics and materials that will help you prepare and

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Renaming AD user UPN when syncing with Office 365

Renaming AD user UPN when syncing with Office 365 without scripting or problems Renaming AD user’s UPN when syncing with Office 365 are a pain point for Hybrid AD/Office 365 environments. UPN renames for Active Directory user that is synchronized with Office 365 will cause problems if the rename procedure is

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