Active Directory (AD) is the backbone of identity and access management for most enterprise networks. From user authentication and group policy enforcement to access control and application integration, AD is a crown jewel—and a prime target for attackers.
Yet, many organizations overlook routine security assessments of AD, leaving it riddled with misconfigurations, legacy protocols, and privilege escalation paths. Fortunately, tools like PingCastle and Purple Knight allow defenders to evaluate the health and resilience of AD environments—without disrupting production systems.
In this blog, we’ll walk through how these two tools help identify hidden vulnerabilities and improve your organization’s AD security posture.
Why Assess Active Directory?
Active Directory environments grow complex over time. Temporary permissions become permanent, legacy systems never retire, and unused accounts pile up.
Attackers thrive in this chaos, using tactics like:
- Kerberoasting
- Pass-the-Hash
- Credential stuffing
- Golden Ticket attacks
- Privilege escalation via misconfigured ACLs
Routine AD security assessments are essential to:
- Identify risky configurations
- Detect privilege inheritance issues
- Monitor domain trust relationships
- Evaluate patching and protocol usage
- Map lateral movement and escalation paths
This is where PingCastle and Purple Knight come into play.
PingCastle: AD Security Health Check at Scale
PingCastle is a free, open-source tool designed for comprehensive security auditing of Active Directory environments. Developed by cybersecurity experts, it offers a fast yet detailed view of your AD’s vulnerabilities.
Key Features:
- Health Score: Generates a numerical risk score for your domain.
- Security Checks: Audits over 70+ common weaknesses such as weak cryptography, stale accounts, and unpatched domain controllers.
- Trust Mapping: Analyzes trust relationships between domains and forests.
- Stale Objects Detection: Identifies inactive users and computers.
- Delegation & Privilege Review: Reviews ACLs and tracks overprivileged accounts.
How to Use It:
- Download PingCastle and run it on a domain-joined workstation or server.
- Run a command like:
PingCastle.exe --healthcheck --server <your_domain_controller> - Review the generated HTML report, which includes visuals, domain risk score, and remediation advice.
What You’ll Learn:
- Whether your domain is vulnerable to known attack techniques.
- Which users have dangerous privileges or unconstrained delegation.
- Recommendations prioritized by risk level for remediation.
Purple Knight: AD Attack Path & Risk Exposure Scanner
Purple Knight, created by Semperis, is another free assessment tool focused on Active Directory security indicators of exposure (IOEs) and indicators of compromise (IOCs).
Key Features:
- Predefined Risk Indicators: Checks over 70 security indicators mapped to MITRE ATT&CK.
- Real-Time Risk Report: No installation required, results generated in minutes.
- IOC Detection: Looks for signs of compromise like forged tickets or backdoors.
- Attack Surface Mapping: Highlights paths an attacker might use to move laterally.
How to Use It:
- Download and run the standalone Purple Knight executable.
- Authenticate with domain credentials (read-only).
- Let the tool scan and compile the results.
- Review the report categorized into areas like:
- Account Security
- Domain Trusts
- Kerberos Security
- LDAP Permissions
- Group Policy
Why It’s Powerful:
- Designed with purple teaming in mind (security + operations).
- Offers detailed explanations of each finding and associated risk.
- Can serve as a baseline scan for continuous AD hardening efforts.
PingCastle vs Purple Knight: Which Should You Use?
| Feature | PingCastle | Purple Knight |
|---|---|---|
| Health Scoring | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| AD Trust Mapping | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| IOC Detection | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| MITRE Mapping | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Report Type | HTML | Interactive with export |
| Expertise Needed | Medium | Low |
| Ideal For | Security Engineers, Auditors | IT Admins, SOC Teams |
Recommendation: Use both. PingCastle gives you deep audits and trust analysis, while Purple Knight excels at exposure and compromise detection.
Security Best Practices After the Assessment
Once you’ve run these tools, take action:
- Disable unused accounts and clean up stale objects.
- Restrict delegation, especially unconstrained types.
- Harden Kerberos configurations and monitor for anomalies.
- Enforce least privilege by auditing group memberships and ACLs.
- Patch Domain Controllers and deprecate legacy protocols.
Final Thoughts
Your Active Directory is only as secure as your last assessment. With tools like PingCastle and Purple Knight, there’s no excuse to fly blind.
Whether you’re preparing for a red team exercise, recovering from an incident, or just taking proactive steps, regular AD assessments help close the gap between assumptions and reality.
At CyberSecurityGuru.net, we advocate for continuous assessment and layered defense. Because in today’s threat landscape, knowing your weaknesses is half the battle—and fixing them is the other half.