Persistence in Active Directory

Persistence is the quiet art of staying put. In Active Directory environments, it's the difference between a minor security incident and a months-long breach that costs millions.

I'm Mikhailen Vostorov, and in Persistence in Active Directory: Red Team Tactics and Evasion Methods, I'll show you exactly how attackers establish long-term footholds in AD environments - and how defenders detect, hunt, and eliminate them.

What You'll Learn

This book delivers hands-on, practical knowledge of Active Directory persistence techniques used in real-world attacks:

• Account-Based Persistence - Hidden admins, skeleton keys, and DSRM abuse
• GPO Exploitation - Group Policy manipulation for persistent access
• Service & Scheduled Task Abuse - Maintaining access through legitimate Windows features
• Registry & WMI Tricks - Stealthy persistence using built-in mechanisms
• Kerberos Attacks - Golden Tickets, Silver Tickets, and certificate-based persistence
• AD Object Tampering - Schema modifications and AdminSDHolder abuse
• DLL & COM Hijacking - Application-level persistence without detection
• Fileless Techniques - Memory-resident payloads that evade traditional defenses
• Cloud & Hybrid Persistence - Azure AD Connect exploitation and cross-environment attacks

Every technique includes defender-focused detection methods, SIEM hunting queries, and incident response playbooks you can implement immediately.

Who This Book Is For

Red Teamers & Penetration Testers: Refine your offensive tradecraft with realistic, ethical persistence scenarios that mirror actual APT campaigns.

Blue Teamers & SOC Analysts: Build robust detection rules and hunting strategies to identify covert access before it becomes a breach.

Incident Responders: Get actionable containment steps and forensic indicators to evict persistent attackers from compromised environments.

Security Architects: Understand attacker methodology to design resilient Active Directory infrastructures.

Part of the Active Directory Exploited Series

This volume integrates seamlessly with the complete ethical hacker's collection, covering AD reconnaissance, initial access, privilege escalation, lateral movement, persistence, cloud attacks, and comprehensive defensive strategies.

New to Active Directory? Start with Active Directory for Beginners. Want hands-on practice? Pair this with the Active Directory Hacking Lab Manual. Prefer defense-first approaches? Complement with Active Directory Defense: Detecting and Stopping Real-World Cyber Attacks.

Why This Book Is Different

• Practical, Not Theoretical: Real attack scenarios from actual investigations (anonymized and ethically presented)
• Defender-First Mindset: Every offensive technique paired with detection and mitigation strategies
• SIEM-Ready Content: Copy-paste hunting queries and detection rules for Splunk, Elastic, Microsoft Sentinel, and more
• No Reckless Recipes: Responsible disclosure of techniques with emphasis on authorized testing and ethical boundaries
• Engaging Writing: Coffee-fueled, witty, and candid - cybersecurity content that refuses to be boring

Your Next Step

Whether you're hardening an enterprise network, building detection capabilities, or conducting authorized security assessments, this book teaches you to think like an attacker so you can stop one.

Ready to master Active Directory persistence and elevate your cybersecurity skills?

Open the book, pour a strong coffee, and let's get to work.