DCSync Attack Explained

Non-default principals with DCSync rights can impersonate a domain controller via the DRS protocol and pull password hashes. Explains why misapplied replication rights are risky and how to find them.

Releases Invoke-DCSync, a PowerShell wrapper around Mimikatz's DCSync feature that impersonates a domain controller to dump account hashes without touching the DC.

A domain controller should do one thing: control the domain. Why ADDS belongs on a DC and which roles, tools, and apps to keep off it to shrink the attack surface.

Semperis argues AI-driven attacks are outpacing identity teams as machine identities outnumber human ones 10:1, and urges building organization-wide cyber resilience around hybrid identity protection before the next crisis.

Based on 2025 AD security assessments, Semperis IFIR lists ten recurring risks, from indirect DCSync paths to insecure ADCS and stale service accounts, and explains how attackers exploit them.

NTDS.DIT, AD's core database, stores password hashes for the whole domain; extracting it lets attackers crack them offline or reuse them via Pass the Hash. Defenses and detection covered.