Comparative Review: Active Directory Auditing Tools. The reality is simple: If you suspect that your network has been compromised, the built- in tools provided by Microsoft aren’t going to be much help. Trying to find the culprit using Event Viewer is like looking for a needle in a haystack. You need a tool that can lay out the data in a clear and concise manner—you need a good Active Directory (AD) auditing tool. I’ll show you six products that will bring a smile to your face and put your mind at ease.

My environment for testing each product consisted of a Windows Server 2. AD domain hosted on a VMware ESXi host.

When needed, I added a separate server running Microsoft SQL Server 2. SQL Server 2. 00. Express to the domain. The products were installed on a domain controller (DC), SQL Server machine, or VMware virtual appliance.

• PowerShell, audit, continuous audit, security, security audits, AD, Active Directory, Commandlets, cmdlets.
• The Active Directory Security Audit Tool from Paramount Defenses was designed to empower organizations to easily fulfill essential Active Directory security reporting.

ManageEngine AD Solutions provides web based active directory management, reporting, change audit & self-password management solution.

To create the organizational unit (OU) structure and add users to each domain, I ran a simple script that used the Dsadd command- line tool. Detailed side- by- side comparisons of each product can be viewed in the online product comparison table. Blackbird Group’s Blackbird Auditor for Active Directory. Blackbird Group has a complete management suite for AD that consists of six modules, one of which is Blackbird Auditor for Active Directory. Each module can be purchased separately or together as a suite. All the modules are managed from the same management console. Unlike the other products in this review, Blackbird Auditor is licensed per employee, not by AD user, potentially saving you licensing costs.

Blackbird Auditor should be installed on a dedicated server. It requires Microsoft . NET Framework 3. 5 and a SQL Server 2. However, SQL Server 2.

Express can be used for small environments (up to 2 DCs and a maximum of 2,5. For this review, I chose to use SQL Server 2. Express. After taking care of the prerequisites, you first install the Blackbird Management Suite Server software on the dedicated server. Licensing is handled with a . The installation wizard walks you through setting up the Blackbird Service, directory connector, and back- end database. It also takes care of configuring the Windows Server firewall exceptions. Next, you install the console using the Blackbird Management Suite Console software.

It can be installed on the dedicated server or on a Windows XP or later workstation. After the base application and console have been installed, one or more modules need to be installed. For this review, I installed only Blackbird Auditor. Finally, you need to install an agent (what the company calls a handler) on each DC in your domain. This is done from the Management Suite Console by right- clicking the AD node and choosing Deploy data handler.

The agent can be installed one DC at a time or on multiple DCs in a single operation. Blackbird Auditor’s main console is wrapped in a Microsoft Management Console (MMC). From the console, you can easily view any of the built- in reports that will show you the activity in your domain, including changes made to computers, Group Policy Objects (GPOs), groups, OUs, and users. If your company is audited regularly, you’ll appreciate the prebuilt Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Payment Card Industry (PCI), and Sarbanes- Oxley (SOX) Act compliance reports. If the built- in reports don’t show what you’re looking for, you can create your own.

First, you create a new “Audit View” by answering a few who, what, where, and when type questions. Then, you schedule the audit. You can have the report emailed to you in . Reports are great for after- the- fact information, but there are certain events you need to know about right away. Blackbird Auditor can notify you when changes (create, modify, delete, move, and rename operations) are made to certain accounts or object types or when they occur on specific workstations or DCs. Blackbird Auditor is tightly integrated with the MMC Active Directory Users and Computers snap- in.

Installing the Blackbird RSAT Extensions adds several options to the snap- in. The Show audit trail, Show account activity, and Show group membership changes options are added to user objects. For example, right- clicking a user object and choosing Show audit trail displays the changes made to objects and who made the changes, as Figure 1 shows. The Show audit trail option is also added to group and OU objects. Figure 1: Displaying an audit trail in Blackbird Auditor for Active Directory Blackbird Auditor is a simple yet powerful tool. When combined with one or more of the other Blackbird modules, it puts the tools needed to manage AD at administrators’ fingertips. Blackbird Auditor for Active Directory.

PROS: Tight integration with the Active Directory Users and Computers snap- in; licensed on HR employee count, not AD user count. CONS: No built- in tool to assist in removing or archiving old data. RATING: 4 out of 5. PRICE: $6 per employee (HR count, not AD count)RECOMMENDATION: Outstanding integration with the Active Directory Users and Computers snap- in and prebuilt FISMA, HIPAA, PCI, and SOX compliance reports make Blackbird Auditor stand out.

CONTACT: Blackbird Group . Instead, a My. SQL database is configured for you during installation. For this evaluation, I installed ADAudit Plus directly on the DC. However, in a production environment, you’ll want to install it on a dedicated server. Licensing is handled through an XML file.

The installation took only a few minutes, and soon I was logging onto the admin console through a web page (port 8. The setup process was easy because the console walks you through each step. You just enter the name of your domain and DC, after which you edit the Default Domain Controllers Group Policy so that events are captured correctly. It is important to note that the events are gathered in batches instead of being captured in real time. ADAudit Plus can be run as a standalone application (where you have to remember to start the program every time the computer is restarted) or as a service. Running the program as a service removes the requirement that you manually start the application every time the server is restarted. Once logged on, a nice dashboard gives you an overview of recent domain activity, including logon failures, number of users locked out, peak logon hours, and how many passwords have been set or changed.

You can drill down into each graph in the dashboard to see more detailed information. ADAudit Plus has one of the best dashboards of the products I reviewed. The Reports tab is where you can really get into the meat of the data, as Figure 2 shows. The 3. 3 built- in reports are grouped into 8 specific categories: User Logon Reports, Local Logon- Logoff, User Management, Group Management, Computer Management, Domain Policy Changes, OU Management, and GPO Management. There are no built- in regulatory compliance reports.

Figure 2: Reviewing the last modification made to user objects in ADAudit Plus To create your own report, you click New Report Profile and fill out a simple query form. For example, I was able to easily create a report on all OUs that had been created, deleted, renamed, or moved, had their permissions changed, or had child objects added.

Specific OUs can be targeted in the report, or the entire domain can be reported on. If you want to be notified when something specific happens in the domain, you can configure web alerts or email alerts. For example, you can have ADAudit alert you when a logon failure occurs, a user or group is created or deleted, a domain policy is changed, or a GPO or OU is deleted. I found that the user guide was a bit lacking. It wasn't terrible, but this web- based guide could have walked users through setup and administration better. For basic Security event log reporting, ADAudit Plus is a great value. Mp3 Rocket Pro Download Crack Idm.

It does a good job of capturing the data and presenting it in a manageable format.

AUDIT- C Frequently Asked Questions. What is Alcohol Misuse (aka ? What should a provider do when a patient screens positive for alcohol misuse or unhealthy drinking? Why does the VA only require counseling for patients with AUDIT- C scores > 5, when scores of > 4 for men (> 3 for women) are positive screens?

Why do patients who have only one drink a day have a positive AUDIT- C score? Why is the AUDIT- C cut- off higher for men than women? What common medical and psychiatric problems are linked to alcohol use?

Does everyone who screens positive on the AUDIT- C need a full assessment or referral? How can I quickly assess if patients are having symptoms due to drinking? If a patient screens positive on the AUDIT- C, are they alcohol dependent? How can I tell if a patient has alcohol dependence? Will the AUDIT- C miss alcohol dependence?

Why don't we use the CAGE anymore? How should we manage patients with high AUDIT- C scores (> 8) who are not interested in changing their drinking?

What can I do if a patient doesn't respond after Brief Alcohol Intervention? Who should be offered referral for further assessment or treatment for alcohol use disorders? If a patient with likely alcohol dependence refuses referral, what else helps? What can I do if a patient's AUDIT- C score was high because they were a heavy drinker in the past year but now are no longer drinking? Why counsel patients who have been treated for alcohol use disorders in the past year? Are there medications that can help patients cut down or abstain?

What are the AUDIT Questions 4- 1. Screening and Counseling for Alcohol Misuse.

What is Alcohol Misuse (aka ? Most patients with alcohol misuse are not alcohol dependent. Why screen for alcohol misuse? Screening for alcohol misuse identifies patients who may benefit from brief alcohol counseling interventions offered by general medical or mental health providers and/or referral to addictions specialists for select patients. What is the AUDIT- C? The AUDIT- C is a 3 question screen that can help identify patients with alcohol misuse. Never (0 points)* Monthly or less (1 point) Two to four times a month (2 points) Two to three times per week (3 points) Four or more times a week (4 points) Q#2: How many drinks containing alcohol did you have on a typical day when you were drinking in the past year?

Q#3: How often did you have six or more drinks on one occasion in the past year? Never (0 points) Less than monthly (1 point) Monthly (2 points) Weekly (3 points) Daily or almost daily (4 points). If patients are screened by interview, and AUDIT- C question #1 is answered . Who is qualified to perform alcohol screening? Any trained person who is willing to ask the AUDIT- C questions in a private setting, verbatim, and in a nonjudgmental fashion may perform alcohol screening.

Alcohol use can affect many areas of health and may interfere with certain medications, so it is important for us to know how much you usually drink. What does a positive AUDIT- C score (> 4 for men, > 3 for women) mean? A positive score means the patient is probably drinking at unhealthy levels. What is a Brief Alcohol Intervention for alcohol misuse? Below are the most common components of brief interventions/counseling that have been shown to decrease drinking: 1) Expressed concern from the provider, regarding unhealthy alcohol use 2) Feedback linking the patient's drinking to his/her health issues. Education about recommended drinking limits. Offer of explicit advice to cut down drinking or abstain.

Follow- up 2- 4 weeks later to assess the patient's response. Referral to specialty addictions treatment if indicated. The most effective interventions are explicitly patient centered and non- confrontational.

An algorithm for motivational counseling is included in an article in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Repeated brief interventions over the phone have been shown to decrease drinking at 3 months among patients with alcohol use disorders (alcohol abuse or dependence). Risk of alcohol dependence increases as AUDIT- C scores increase. Why does the VA only require follow- up counseling for patients with AUDIT- C scores > 5, when AUDIT- C scores of > 4 for men (> 3 for women) are positive screens? In some settings the burden or cost of counseling patients with false positive screens, relative to the benefit screening and brief counseling, is high enough that health care systems may choose to use a higher cut point.

Therefore, the VA has elected to require follow up for its performance measure for brief alcohol counseling at the threshold of 5 to minimize the burden of false positives screens on providers. Why do patients who have only one drink a day screen positive on the AUDIT- C? The screening thresholds that balance sensitivity and specificity are based on studies that used in- depth interviews to assess patients' drinking and problems due to drinking. This can be addressed in several ways, such as: Review alcohol intake over the past few months to confirm accuracy, including details of intake for each day in the past week to determine whether typical drinking is within recommended limits. Ask the patient: Has this been your consistent pattern over the past 2- 3 months? Counsel patients to cut down if they exceed recommended limits, and educate them about the link between alcohol use and health. Make sure to define standard drink sizes.

Why is the AUDIT- C cut- off higher for men than women? The recommended cut- off for women is based on studies of women (VA and non- VA), which used in- depth interviews to assess their drinking patterns and problems due to drinking. Both VA and Non VA Women develop problems due to drinking at lower levels of alcohol consumption than men (e.

What common medical and psychiatric problems are linked to alcohol use? Alcohol misuse has been linked to the following medical and psychiatric problems. Depression, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), insomnia, injuries.

Hypertension, obesity, congestive heart failure (CHF), liver disease, stroke. Breast cancer, pancreas cancer. Reflux (GERD), upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleed back to top.

Does everyone who screens positive on the AUDIT- C need a full assessment or referral? Not everyone needs a full diagnostic assessment or referral. For patients with AUDIT- C scores 4- 7 (3- 7 for women) and no prior alcohol treatment, the provider can offer a brief alcohol intervention, and follow- up to evaluate how the patient responds (as the first step). How can I quickly assess if patients are having symptoms due to drinking? Screen the patient with questions 4- 1.

AUDIT (World Health Organization) to identify symptoms due to drinking. If a patient screens positive on the AUDIT- C, is it likely they are alcohol dependent? Most patients who screen positive on the AUDIT- C drink at risky levels, but are not alcohol dependent.