In today’s rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape, identity infrastructure, particularly Active Directory (AD), remains a primary target for attackers. Gartner’s Market Guide for Identity Governance states that over 90% of Global 2000 organizations rely on Active Directory for core identity and access management. Yet, despite its critical role as the central nervous system of enterprise IT, AD security is often neglected, leaving it vulnerable to sophisticated attacks that can bring an entire organization to its knees.

The consequences of a compromised AD are catastrophic, including widespread operational disruption, significant data loss and a complete loss of trust. When attackers gain control of AD, they hold the keys to the kingdom, able to move laterally, escalate privileges and deploy ransomware with devastating efficiency. The question is no longer if an attack will occur, but when - and how prepared your organization is to recover.

Best practices for bulletproof AD resilience

Achieving true Active Directory resilience requires a strategic blend of proactive defense, meticulous planning and robust recovery capabilities. This is not merely about having backups but cultivating a resilience-first mindset and implementing a multi-faceted strategy.

1. AD forest recovery: Planning for the worst-case scenario

A complete forest recovery remains the ultimate test of AD resilience. This involves the ability to restore the entire AD environment to a known-good state after catastrophic corruption or compromise.

Key steps in forest recovery:

• Maintain regular, offline backups of all domain controllers.
• Document and periodically validate the forest recovery process through tabletop exercises and simulations.
• Leverage tools like Microsoft’s Active Directory Forest Recovery Guide or third-party automated solutions that reduce recovery time.
• Ensure that recovery images are stored securely, offline and immutable.

Without these preparations, organizations risk prolonged outages, as recovering AD manually without a plan is highly complex, error-prone and time-consuming.

2. Entra ID recovery: Protecting and recovering break-glass accounts

Beyond restoring the forest, organizations must ensure resilience through Entra ID recovery – the protection and rapid recovery of break-glass accounts used in emergencies.

Best practices for Entra ID recovery:

• Maintain dedicated, highly secure and monitored administrative accounts disconnected from regular directory services (tier-0 accounts).
• Store credentials for these accounts in secure vaults (e.g., CyberArk, Azure Key Vault) with strict access controls.
• Regularly rotate credentials and audit access logs.
• Simulate account lockout or compromise scenarios to validate the recovery process.
• Ensure Entra IDs are excluded from regular AD sync processes with cloud environments to reduce exposure.

These accounts must be protected as crown jewels, as their compromise could derail recovery efforts entirely.

3. Proactive hardening and monitoring

This forms the bedrock of any effective AD security program. Organizations must implement a tiered access model to enforce the principle of least privilege, ensuring that users and administrators only have access to the resources absolutely necessary for their roles. Regularly auditing for misconfigurations, such as weak password policies or excessive permissions is crucial. Furthermore, deploying advanced threat detection and response solutions provides real-time visibility into suspicious activities, enabling security teams to identify and neutralize threats before they escalate.

4. Immutable backup and recovery assurance

Backups must be stored in an immutable, air-gapped location, making them impervious to encryption or deletion by ransomware. This guarantees that a clean recovery point is always available. Recovery assurance goes a step further by regularly validating the integrity and recoverability of these backups. By automatically testing the recovery process in an isolated environment, organizations can be confident that their backups are safe and fully functional, eliminating the risk of a failed recovery during a real crisis.

A unified front: The HCLTech and Commvault joint solution

HCLTech and Commvault have forged a powerful partnership to deliver a comprehensive, end-to-end identity resilience solution. Commvault Cloud accelerates recovery and minimizes downtime from days/weeks to hours, with automated forest-level recovery for AD. Interactive Forest topology visualization and customizable runbooks simplify and guide the recovery process for enhanced accuracy and control of automated forest recovery. Unified protection of hybrid identity systems (AD + Entra ID) simplifies operations and reduces tool sprawl, enabling consistent security across environments.

HCLTech complements this powerful technology with its deep expertise in providing strategic guidance to design, implement and sustain a resilient AD environment aligned with Zero Trust principles. This includes proactive hardening, regular testing and validating cyber readiness, continuous monitoring and the development of a tailored recovery playbook. This isn't just about recovering data; it's about recovering with confidence, ensuring the restored environment is secure, compliant and resilient against future attacks.

Together, HCLTech and Commvault provide a holistic approach to identity security and business continuity. By combining Commvault’s rapid, automated recovery technology with HCLTech’s strategic, security-first services, organizations are equipped not just to survive an AD-related disaster but to emerge stronger. This unified front ensures that your most critical identity infrastructure is prepared for the worst-case scenario, guaranteeing a rapid, clean and reliable recovery when it matters most.

Take the next step towards resilience.

Don't wait for a crisis to test your defenses. The time to act is now. Take the first step towards true Active Directory resilience and ensure your organization is prepared for any eventuality.

To learn more about the HCLTech and Commvault partnership, visit our partnership page.