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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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AdminSDHolder modification permissions attack

Defending Active Directory Against AdminSDHolder Attacks

Active Directory Permissions Attack: Hackers Gain Persistence with AdminSDHolder Active Directory (AD) tends to be a common target for hackers, as it controls the security and infrastructure for most IT systems. Attackers aim to get privileged access to a Windows Server Active Directory and remain undetected for as long as

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Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) Vulnerability Discovered

Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is one of the most popular solutions used to access critical infrastructure servers for many organizations, including those who run virtual servers on Microsoft Azure. A group of hackers, called the Secret Club, inadvertently found a major flaw in Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) technology.

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3 Steps to Help Configure Emergency Calling in Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a powerful tool for collaboration but managing its features can be challenging and time-consuming. Telephony and calling plans for Microsoft Teams requires certain steps to be completed in order to maximize all its features. This blog outlines how to add emergency addresses, associate phone numbers to these

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New Study Reveals Top Concerns for Microsoft Platform Management

Managing Microsoft environments can be complex and time-consuming, but they provide critical services to maintain business continuity and allow access to employees to keep them productive. Whether on-premises Active Directory, hybrid, or Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), IT executives must balance efficiency while maintaining Active Directory security, such as managing

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NSA Discovers New Critical Exchange Server Vulnerabilities

Microsoft released three new patches for its Exchange Server software on Tuesday after the National Security Agency (NSA) alerted the company to a fresh batch of critical vulnerabilities. All discovered flaws, four in total, lead to remote code execution on a vulnerable machine. “We urge all owners and operators of

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A New Cayosoft.com

We’re excited to announce the new Cayosoft.com! This new and improved site was a true team effort by many at Cayosoft. After seven years it was time to retire our old site and build a new one with a clear goal in mind – make it easy for any visitor, from new-to-the-site to long-time Cayosoft customer, to find the information they need.   You’ll notice we’ve not only given our site a clean, new

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Disgruntled IT Contractor in Jail | Protect Against Insider Threats

Large-scale internal security breaches are becoming increasingly more popular, costing companies millions of dollars each year. The sum of this loss comes from the financial damages of the breach itself and, in some cases more importantly, damage to the company’s reputation, translating to big dollars off the company’s bottom line.

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2020: A Year in Review

  Wow, 2020 — A year to remember, to say the least!   Despite a global pandemic, so much was accomplished at Cayosoft and across the tech community.  People adjusted to a “new normal” as we flocked to Microsoft Teams, which now has more than 115 million daily active users.   And we know that pushed IT Teams

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The #1 Way to Prevent Insider Threats

Protecting Your Critical Assets with Insider Threat Prevention Data Breaches Happen Data security is nothing new. Where there is sensitive information, there are those who seek to access, steal, and misuse it, mostly for financial gain. The unfortunate truth about malicious activities is that a third of all data breaches

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Security Budgets During COVID-19 – A New Infographic

When lockdown protocols kicked in due to COVID-19’s rapid spread all around the world, teams across many industries migrated to a work-from-home normal. However, with remote work comes new security risks—like employees accessing sensitive company assets through personal devices and home wifi. How have security budgets changed as a result

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