Episode 28 — Windows Domain Basics: AD Structure and Trusts

This episode dives into Active Directory (AD), the identity backbone of most enterprise Windows networks. You’ll learn how AD organizes resources into domains, trees, and forests, and how domain controllers maintain authentication and policy enforcement. We explore the role of the Global Catalog, how replication ensures consistency, and how DNS underpins directory lookups. The episode also clarifies the different types of trust relationships—parent-child, tree, forest, and external—and how they extend authentication boundaries while introducing new attack surfaces.Listeners will hear how AD’s design reflects a trade-off between scalability and exposure. We discuss how misconfigured trusts, weak Kerberos policies, or excessive domain admin rights can open the door to privilege escalation and persistence. The session also touches on how modern environments use hybrid identity with Azure AD, bringing cloud considerations into the same trust framework. Whether you’re preparing for exam questions or managing production systems, understanding these interconnections helps you see identity not as a static database but as a living network of authority. Produced by BareMetalCyber.com, where you’ll find more cyber audio courses, books, and information to strengthen your educational path. Also, if you want to stay up to date with the latest news, visit DailyCyber.News for a newsletter you can use, and a daily podcast you can commute with.

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