Windows Hardening

If an attacker compromises a single endpoint in your environment and finds a reused local Administrator password, they own every other workstation that shares it. That single misconfiguration is how a phishing click on one helpdesk laptop becomes a 4,000-endpoint ransomware incident — and it’s exactly what Windows LAPS (Local Administrator Password Solution) was built to prevent. This is the complete step-by-step Windows LAPS implementation guide for enterprise environments in 2026: AD schema preparation, KDS root key generation, encrypted password storage, Group Policy reference, PowerShell administration, and the full DSRM password backup workflow for Domain Controllers. ...

A default-installed Windows 11 endpoint in 2026 has eight major attack surfaces enabled out of the box that should not be: NTLM authentication, LM/NTLMv1 fallback in many cases, unsigned-driver execution, LSASS access from non-protected processes, BitLocker without PIN, Office macros from internet sources, SmartScreen passable via mark-of-the-web bypass, and PowerShell without script-block logging. This Windows 11 enterprise hardening guide for 2026 is the consolidated 10-phase rollout that closes every one of those gaps — aligned with the CIS Microsoft Windows 11 Enterprise Benchmark, Microsoft’s Security Baselines, and the operational realities of running a multi-thousand-endpoint fleet under Intune, Group Policy, or both. ...

NTLM has been on borrowed time for two decades, and Microsoft made it official: as of late 2023 Microsoft formally announced that NTLM is deprecated, with Kerberos and the new Negotiate-based authentication taking over. Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025 ship with NTLMv1 fully removed, and Microsoft strongly recommends auditing and disabling NTLMv2 wherever Kerberos can take over. This guide walks through how to disable NTLM in Windows safely — auditing first, staging the rollout, and rolling back cleanly if something breaks. ...