Getting Started with Windows Server Security

Service accounts

Management of service accounts and passwords can be a challenge. Since these accounts are highly privileged and have unique settings in Active Directory, unmanaged accounts can be a security threat to any organization. Some of these issues are documented at http://blogs.technet.com/b/askpfeplat/archive/2012/07/16/too-many-admins-in-your-domain-expose-the-problem-s-and-find-a-solution-don-t-forget-powershell.aspx. To address some of these issues and to better control these types of highly privileged and special accounts in Active Directory, Microsoft has introduced a concept called Managed Service Accounts (MSA) in Windows Server 2008. Sometimes it is referred to as standalone MSA. Due to some limitations, this concept wasn't highly ...