Executing Active Directory Attack Simulation

Executing Active Directory Attack Simulation

Overview

Cybersecurity skill for executing active directory attack simulation. Follows industry best practices and security standards.

When to Use

Trigger phrases:

• "executing active directory attack simulation"

• "Executes authorized attack simulations against Active Directory environments to "

• Assessing the security of an Active Directory domain and forest against common and advanced attack techniques

• Identifying attack paths from low-privilege domain user to Domain Admin using privilege relationship analysis

• Validating that Kerberos security configurations, credential policies, and delegation settings resist known attacks

• Testing detection capabilities of the SOC and EDR tools against Active Directory-specific TTPs

• Evaluating the effectiveness of tiered administration models and privileged access workstations

Do not use without explicit written authorization from the domain owner, against production domain controllers during business hours unless approved, or for testing that could cause account lockouts affecting real users without prior coordination.

When NOT to Use

• When you lack proper authorization for testing
• For production systems without change management
• When the task requires legal or compliance expertise beyond technical scope

Prerequisites

• Written authorization specifying the target AD domain, testing constraints, and any off-limits accounts or systems
• Low-privilege domain user account (minimum starting point) to simulate realistic attacker position
• Testing workstation joined to the domain or network access to domain controllers on ports 88, 135, 139, 389, 445, 636, 3268, 3269
• BloodHound Community Edition or Enterprise with SharpHound/AzureHound collectors
• Impacket toolkit, Mimikatz (or pypykatz), Rubeus, and CrackMapExec installed on the attack platform
• Hashcat or John the Ripper with current wordlists (rockyou.txt, SecLists) for offline credential cracking

Workflow

# Example: IOC detection
import re

IOC_PATTERNS = {
    "ip": r"\b(?:\d{1,3}\.){3}\d{1,3}\b",
    "domain": r"\b[a-z0-9-]+\.[a-z]{2,}\b",
    "hash_md5": r"\b[a-f0-9]{32}\b",
    "hash_sha256": r"\b[a-f0-9]{64}\b",
}

def extract_iocs(text: str) -> dict:
    return {k: re.findall(v, text) for k, v in IOC_PATTERNS.items()}

1. Define Objectives — Clarify the goals and scope for active directory attack simulation.
2. Gather Resources — Collect tools, data, and access needed for active directory attack simulation.
3. Execute Process — Carry out active directory attack simulation operations methodically.
4. Verify Quality — Check results against acceptance criteria.
5. Document Outcomes — Record findings, decisions, and next steps.

Tools

• Analysis Platform — Data processing and visualization
• Collaboration Tools — Team coordination and knowledge sharing

Process

1. Reconnaissance — Gather target information, identify attack surface, enumerate services
2. Analysis/Exploitation — Execute the technique, analyze results, document findings
3. Reporting — Document IOCs, write findings, provide remediation recommendations

Verification

• All active directory attack simulation procedures executed completely and documented
• Findings validated against multiple data sources
• False positives identified and filtered
• Results documented with evidence and timestamps
• Recommendations provided with risk-based prioritization

Anti-Rationalization Table