Directory security
Secure Active Directory and Entra ID from assessment through recovery.
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What is directory security?
Active Directory and Entra ID control who can reach almost everything else in an organization, which makes them the first target in most identity-based attacks. Directory Security is the practice of finding exploitable misconfigurations before attackers do, auditing every change as it happens, governing access as people join, move, and leave, and recovering quickly when an incident occurs. Most attacks do not start with a zero-day. They start with an existing, unnoticed misconfiguration or an unmonitored change.
Active Directory remains foundational to identity infrastructure and a primary target in ransomware and identity-based attacks.
Hidden attack paths
Misconfigurations, service account exposure, and delegation risks create exploitable privilege paths that increase attack surface. Only 36.4% of organizations have conducted a comprehensive Active Directory security assessment in the past 12 months, and just 26.2% are fully confident their AD environment is free of misconfigurations that could enable privilege escalation.
Access creep over time
Manual provisioning and infrequent review allow users and groups to accumulate access that no longer aligns to business need.
Extended attacker dwell time
The average attacker spends over 100 days in an environment before detection, often moving laterally through AD without visibility. 24.5% of organizations experienced an incident in the past 12 months where unauthorized identities gained access to sensitive data, according to the 2026 Data and Identity Security Report.
High-impact recovery scenarios
When AD fails, authentication, applications, and operations are disrupted. Recovery must be controlled and reliable.
Use cases
Secure your directory across risk assessment, detection, governance, and recovery.
Automated AD forest recovery
For catastrophic AD forest failure, replace manual recovery documentation and scripting with a guided, repeatable recovery process that can be executed accurately under crisis conditions.
The Netwrix approach
Integrated directory security across risk, governance, and recovery.
Comparison
Netwrix vs. point tools and manual scripts
Native AD tools, free point utilities, and manual PowerShell scripts each cover a slice of directory security. Netwrix Directory Security covers assessment, auditing, governance, and recovery in one platform, across both Active Directory and Entra ID.
Capability
Point tools & manual scripts
Netwrix Directory Security
Continuous risk assessment
One-time scans, manual re-checks
Automated, continuous scanning
Change auditing with full history
Native logs roll over, hard to search
Complete forensic timeline
Hybrid AD + Entra ID coverage
Usually covers one or the other
Native support for both
Recovery after an incident
Manual rebuild from scratch
Guided forest recovery + granular object recovery
Get in touch
Let’s talk security
Close the loop across the entire directory security lifecycle
Netwrix Directory Security brings together risk assessment, change auditing, lifecycle governance, and recovery across Active Directory, Entra ID, and Okta. Security teams gain prioritized visibility into exploitable risks, complete audit trails of directory activity, automated enforcement of least privilege, and reliable recovery capabilities. The result is reduced attack surface, improved compliance readiness, and faster restoration when incidents occur.
Reduce attack surface
Identify and prioritize exploitable Active Directory risks tied to real attack techniques so security teams can focus remediation efforts where they matter most.
Continuous change visibility
Capture every critical directory change with full context and retain a searchable audit trail to support investigations and compliance reporting.
Enforced least privilege
Automate lifecycle governance, delegated approvals, and access certifications to prevent privilege creep and keep permissions aligned with business roles.
Resilient recovery
Restore objects, attributes, or entire forests through guided recovery processes designed to reduce downtime and operational disruption.
Trusted by professionals
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Directory Security FAQs
Have questions? We’ve got answers.
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