Defending against cyber-attacks is an ongoing exercise for all organizations, as the volume of security breach attempts appear to be increasing. A Q1 2025 study by Check Point Software revealed that cyberattacks against organizations increased by nearly 50% over the same period in 2024, including an eye-popping 126% increase in ransomware attacks.
The Importance of Multifactor Authentication (MFA)
One of the best ways to improve cybersecurity in any organization is to require MFA—a security process requiring two or more methods of authentication to verify a user’s identity—before a user can login to a given system. Common MFA methods include sending a code or push notification to a user’s phone to verify identity in addition to requiring a password to grant access. Single-factor authentication—such as only requiring a username and password—has proven to be woefully inadequate to defend against attackers, so implementing MFA as widely as possible is a must.
MFA mitigates common threats such as phishing, brute force attacks, and credential stuffing. It also enhances security for remote workers, especially when accessing AD through VPNs or cloud services. In a world where hybrid environments exist—with users routinely accessing on-prem and cloud resources—MFA is becoming an increasingly important aspect of securing AD.
Benefits of Integrating AD with MFA
As an AD administrator, integrating MFA with Active Directory environments provides a number of tangible security benefits, which I’ll touch on briefly below:
- MFA provides an extra layer of protection by requiring additional authentication factors, which (as mentioned above) enhances system security.
- Many businesses need to comply with regulatory standards like HIPAA, GDPR, and PCI DSS, which all require stronger access control, which MFA can provide.
- Using MFA builds organizational trust by reducing the likelihood of unauthorized access to sensitive data.
- Adopting MFA for AD also helps reduce account takeovers and complements other security measures like password policies and privileged access management.
Challenges of Implementing MFA for AD
While the benefits of integrating MFA with AD greatly outweigh the disadvantages, the opportunities to integrate modern MFA methods with AD are somewhat limited. The foundational security protocols that AD uses for authentication are antiquated and as a result, often inflexible. This is one of many reasons that migrating applications to use modern authentication methods like SAML and Open ID Connect is important. For critical ingress points like VPN, you should move to a federated authentication method that supports MFA vs RADIUS or LDAP. For AD joined workstations and privileged accounts, methods like Windows Hello for Business and smartcards work with Kerberos and NTLM.
Active Directory MFA Setup and Integration Resources
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If it’s time to take that first step toward leveling up your organization’s security, get in touch with Ravenswood to start the conversation.
Ready to start integrating AD with MFA? Some of your first steps will be to assess current AD security configurations and identify known vulnerabilities. That should also include a thorough audit of your Active Directory environment before implementing MFA to ensure that you don’t have any gaps in the authentication process.
When it comes to best practices for rolling out MFA with AD, it’s important to consider starting with migrating applications to modern authentication platforms like Microsoft Entra ID. If the application can authenticate with protocols like SAML, WS-Federation, OAuth, or Open ID Connect, you can take advantage of Entra’s native MFA capabilities. For example, legacy on-premise apps can be published with the Entra Private Network Connector, formerly known as Azure App Proxy. (For more information, please refer to the Utilizing the Entra Application Proxy post by Tony La Grassa.)
For anything outside that scope—plus privileged accounts—the two primary methods supported by AD for integrating MFA are Windows Hello for Business and AD Certificate Services / Smartcards. Windows Hello for Business lets the user authenticate to a device with a biometric (fingerprint or facial recognition) or a PIN. The authenticator unlocks a key stored in the computer’s trusteed platform module (TPM). Because the key is machine-specific and the authenticator never leaves the device, Windows Hello for Business is much more secure than passwords. It is resistant to phishing attacks as well.
The second approved method is to use smartcards. Typically, smartcards are deployed in conjunction with Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS). AD CS is a Windows Server role for creating, issuing, and managing public key infrastructure (PKI) certificates. Since smartcard authentication requires a certificate to be stored on a physical device, it is resistant to many vulnerabilities that plague traditional username and password authentication. For more information, please refer to the AD Certificate Services blog post.
Closing Thoughts and Caveats
It’s important to be clear-eyed about some of the challenges and friction that can result from this process, which I’ll touch on briefly here:
- Requiring MFA for access may see resistance to adoption from users, and it can introduce some additional operational complexity, including additional training and onboarding steps.
- Implementing MFA may also introduce compatibility issues with older systems and legacy applications that may not natively support MFA.
- Managing MFA across diverse environments—including on-premises, cloud, and in hybrid AD infrastructures can generate additional complexity.
- Introducing MFA will have an impact—admittedly a minor one worth the cost—on user experience and productivity, with a need to be aware of the important balance between effective security measures with productivity and usability concerns.
Next Steps with MFA and AD Integration
As we’ve discussed, integrating MFA with your AD environment is a valuable addition to your cybersecurity toolbox, especially in an era with rapidly evolving (and expanding) cyber threats. Organizations can leverage a wide range of authentication solutions, including Microsoft Authenticator and Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS), to strengthen their authorization processes and protect user credentials.
Being proactive about embracing extra IT security is a must for any business, and it’s important that everyone in an organization is trained in and embraces the need for an active defense against cyberthreats, so it’s vital that HR managers, IT teams, and administrators across the organization review their current IT security measures and consider the benefits of MFA.
Need help with your MFA and AD integration roll-out? The AD experts at Ravenswood Technology Group can help streamline your AD and MFA implementation process by providing expert guidance, planning, and troubleshooting.
