Active Directory Permissions Reporting Tool

Active Directory is a Microsoft software that organizes and provides access to information in an operating system’s directory. It is used by many organizations to manage access to file directories and devices on a network. It is a central feature of the Windows operating system for both local and cloud-based servers.

Permissions in AD are privileges IT teams grant to users or groups in an organization, so they can perform specific operations on a given network object. Components like users, files, folders, computers, or devices are all represented as objects in Active Directory. However, some of these objects may encompass other objects—for example, a folder might contain a file, and both will be represented as independent objects. Objects that contain other objects are referred to as “container” objects in AD, while single items are called “leaf” objects. Users or groups are commonly assigned AD permissions over objects based on specific requirements. For example, a job role in an organization may entitle a group of users a level of access to a particular folder or device. 

A common method of assigning permissions to users in Active Directory is through Active Directory Administrative Center (ADAC) to manage Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). From there, IT admins need to open a graphical user interface (GUI) tool, locate a user account, then right-click to open properties. Admins may choose to speed up this manual process by running PowerShell scripts to automate the process.

AD permissions on objects are traditionally assigned in two main ways:

1. IT admins can either configure group policy objects in the AD management console
2. Use the security tab in a given object’s properties dialog box to grant or deny Active Directory permissions

Active Directory permissions can also be inherited or passed down between users. IT admins can either transfer permissions by the parent object class within which the object was created or from the groups to which the object was added.

SolarWinds ARM Active Directory management software is built to complete user provisioning and deprovisioning in seconds. By using role-specific templates to delegate access privileges and enforce the principle of least privilege, ARM can help ensure security policy conformity across your IT infrastructure. ARM can also provide full audit trails of AD permissions and access level changes to help build out timelines and other artifacts needed for cybersecurity investigations.

For smaller companies, establishing user permissions for network objects can be a relatively simple task. However, for larger companies that have hundreds of servers and thousands of folders, assigning Active Directory user permissions can be more complicated. 

Since Active Directory allows an IT administrator to manage everything from one dashboard, even when there are thousands of objects on a network, Active Directory group permission reports are important because they can offer a robust understanding of the permissions assigned to users and groups. Without knowing who has access to what, protecting against data breaches from security threats can be significantly more difficult. With detailed reports on the permissions of users and groups in your AD, IT admins can track activity occurring on objects on a network. Permissions reports are also helpful for managing IT compliance when facing audits for regulations like, SOX, HIPAA, GLBA, GDPR, and PCI DSS.

An Active Directory permission reporting tool is designed to help IT teams manage and monitor permissions in AD by providing a comprehensive view of the objects and privileges on their networks, including users, groups, computers, and folders access rights. With these insights, IT teams can better manage permissions and grant, modify, and delete user or group access to specific objects as they see fit.

AD permissions reporting tools can be generated from the user or group perspective. An IT admin can select a specific user and identify the network objects that user can access. This is particularly helpful when security incidents occur or when you want to isolate access to specific objects to only employees with privileged accounts. AD reporting tools can also display the groups that individuals are members of and list details around those groups, like numbers of members or the domain in which those groups are located. 

SolarWinds Access Rights Manager is a robust software solution built to help IT teams manage and audit access rights across your IT infrastructure. With the Active Directory access control permissions reporting tool in ARM, IT teams can generate customizable reports to view user permissions and better identify security risks. This feature is designed to improve permission analysis of both groups and individual users.

Additionally, ARM can help admins detect credential misuse by offering relational connections between a user’s given role in the organization and granted permissions. This allows IT to isolate certain parts of the infrastructure from non-privileged accounts and improve protection against potential threats. ARM is also built to automatically generate compliance reports and has the ability to send them directly to internal stakeholders and external auditors on a schedule of your choice.

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