Status: ○ Planned — content to be added.
Active Directory (AD) is Microsoft’s directory and identity service, widely used to centralise authentication, authorisation and Group Policy for Windows servers and workstations in Industrial Automation and Control System (IACS) environments.
In OT plants, AD often underpins engineering workstations, HMIs, historians and jump hosts. It is a high-value target: compromise of domain controllers or privileged accounts can grant broad access across the industrial Windows estate. Treat AD as critical OT platform infrastructure, and harden and monitor it accordingly.
Related: IEC 62443-3-1 Clause 5 Authentication | Access Control | FR 1 – Identification and Authentication Control | IEC 62443-2-1 Clause 11 – User Access Control | System Hardening | Secure Remote Access | Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) | Digital Certificates