Active Directory penetration testing in Visakhapatnam
In a Vizag hosting company, industrial group or IT-park firm, the directory governs who can reach customers' servers and the company's own records. Our test charts how a plain account might rise to domain administrator and explains each step so the chain can be cut.
- Typical duration
- 5 to 10 working days
- Testing
- Manual, by engineers
- Report
- Executive + engineering
- Delivery
- Remote from Hyderabad, visits by arrangement
Last reviewed
01 / Local need
Why Visakhapatnam organizations test Active Directory
Engineers with powerful accounts and many years of changes make the directory a prize.
At a hosting company, the directory holds the accounts of engineers who can reach every customer's servers, so one stolen engineer password is potentially every customer's problem. In an industrial group or a shipyard, corporate IT shares a directory with plants and departments that were added over decades. IT-park firms keep project accounts for clients and contractors long after the work ends. In all three, the directory is the way into everything else, and an intruder who reaches it can usually stay.
We begin where an employee, or an intruder holding that employee's stolen login, would stand, and chart everything within reach. For a hosting company we also look at the separation between the staff directory and the systems that run customers' servers, since that line decides whether a compromise of the office stays in the office. For the method, open our Active Directory page; for how Vizag buyers work, open VAPT services in Visakhapatnam.
It helps to decide who will own the output. At a hosting company the people who administer the directory are often the same engineers whose accounts are most exposed, so we deliver the findings to a named senior person as well as to the team, and mark any that concern the team's own accounts, so nobody is left to read a finding about themselves alone.
02 / Scope
Directory setups behind our Vizag identity work
Six setups cover the bulk of our identity work in the city.
Engineer accounts at hosting suppliers
Staff who can reach customers' servers. We test how those accounts are protected, where they sign in and whether the staff directory is truly separate from customer systems.
Industrial and shipyard group directories
Decades of departments and plants in one forest. We map trusts, nested groups and the administrators nobody remembers.
IT-park project accounts
Logins for clients and contractors. We find which stale ones still work and what each can reach.
Service and automation accounts
Accounts that run backups, monitoring and deployment. Their rights are reviewed, along with the chance that credentials could be recovered.
Admin logins used for everything
Engineers who read mail and browse from the same login that administers servers; we trace where those sessions begin.
Detection is its own question
Everything we do is logged so that it can be set against what your directory auditing recorded.
03 / From our guide
From our guide: two classic routes to the top
Two of the oldest routes to domain administrator still work in many estates. This is how our guide explains Kerberoasting and unconstrained delegation.
Kerberoasting
Any domain user can request a service ticket for any account that has a Service Principal Name. The ticket is encrypted with the service account's password hash, which means it can be cracked offline at attacker speed. Service accounts created with weak passwords twenty years ago are still around and still vulnerable.
Fix: 25-character random passwords on every SPN-bearing account, or migrate to Group Managed Service Accounts. Monitor for unusual ticket-granting-service requests.
Unconstrained delegation
A host configured for unconstrained delegation receives the TGT of every user who authenticates to it. Compromise the host (often easier than compromising a DC) and you collect TGTs that let you impersonate every user who logs in — including domain admins.
Fix: Remove unconstrained delegation everywhere. Use constrained or resource-based constrained delegation. Mark domain admin accounts as sensitive and cannot be delegated.
Both depend on settings that were reasonable when they were made and that nobody has revisited since. Roasting without pre-authentication and permission abuse are in the full guide on directory attacks.
04 / What we find
Weak points we expect in Vizag hosting, industrial and IT-park directories
Estates with powerful engineers and long histories show a few familiar faults.
Show details for Weak points we expect in Vizag hosting, industrial and IT-park directories
- Engineer logins used everywhere. One privileged account that signs in to laptops, jump hosts and customer servers alike.
- Staff and customer systems joined by trust. A path from the corporate directory into the systems that run customers' servers.
- Old project accounts still enabled. Client and contractor logins from finished work.
- Service accounts with weak passwords. Backup and monitoring logins whose password hashes can be cracked offline.
- Delegation left from an old design. Servers trusted to act on behalf of any user.
- No alert on a new domain administrator. A change to the most powerful group that nobody is told about.
Housekeeping, such as removing stale accounts, is listed separately from redesign, such as splitting staff identities from customer systems, so a small team can begin with the easy set.
Directories at hosting companies are often older than the platform they now protect. They began as an office directory, then gained engineer groups, vendor accounts and automation, and nobody ever drew the line between the office and the machines that run customers. We ask to speak to the longest-serving administrator and walk through the history together, because that person's memory of why a group exists is worth more than any export. The conversation usually produces the first three fixes before the technical test has found a single weakness, and it shows us where to look hardest.
Plan the readout with the person who approves outages, not only the engineers. Several of the best fixes, such as moving administrator logins to separate machines, need a short window and a decision, and having that person in the room at the start saves the weeks it would otherwise take for a recommendation to find its way to the right desk.
05 / Rules and customers
Why Vizag organizations ask about directory security
Customers, tenders and audits all ask about privileged access.
Hosting customers ask how staff access to their servers is governed, and an ISO 27001 auditor asks the same of privileged accounts.
Our 2026 threats article explains why identity leads the list, and staff or customer records behind the directory come under the 2023 data protection statute from 2027, as DPDP Act testing explains.
06 / How it runs
How a directory test fits Visakhapatnam organizations
We begin as an ordinary employee, and for a supplier we also examine the line to customer systems.
Show details for How a directory test fits Visakhapatnam organizations
Before day 1
Forests, trusts and the customer line
On a call we list domains, trusts and sites, mark off-limits systems and, for a hosting supplier, name the systems that run customers' servers so we can test the separation from the office directory.
Day 1
Starting account and written limits
An ordinary user account is created and our addresses allowed through. A written note records what may be done with administrator rights, and that no customer system is ever touched.
Days 2 to 7
Charting the climb
We chart accounts, groups, delegation and trusts, link the weak points into routes toward domain administrator and report anything serious the same day.
OutputEvery route drawn in steps, with evidence
07 / Questions to ask
Questions to put to a directory tester serving a hosting supplier
Where one login can reach many customers, a few extra questions apply.
- Will you test the separation between our staff directory and customer systems?
- How do you make sure no customer system is ever touched?
- Will you check where engineer accounts sign in and how they are protected?
- If administrator rights are reached, what limits apply?
- Does the report put the easy clean-up apart from the larger redesign?
08 / Delivery
Delivery of directory tests to Visakhapatnam organizations
Where the work happens
Testing is run from our office in Yellareddyguda, Hyderabad, which is our only office. Outside Hyderabad nothing about these tests needs us in your building; if a customer or a site rule asks for someone present, we come by arrangement and write the travel cost into the proposal.
What you receive
One report is written for management, customers and auditors, and a second, more technical one for the engineers who make the fixes. A walkthrough call covers both, and after your fixes we retest and mark each finding closed or open. Every inquiry gets a reply: we respond within 24 hours.
How to prepare
Test accounts, a staging address, our testing addresses allowed through your firewall and a named contact are what we ask for. The preparation article explains each item, and the one-page checklist (PDF) is a printable version.
If a tender names an auditor
If a tender, department or contract requires an auditor from CERT-In's panel, tell us before we scope the work. BERRY9 is not on that panel, and we would rather say so now than let you find out later. For buyers without that requirement the method and the report are the same. Our article on whether you need such an auditor explains how to read a requirement.
09 / Price
What directory testing costs in Visakhapatnam
Directory work begins in the standard band, from INR 27,000 + 18% GST, and the figure follows domains, sites and how many systems the test must keep apart. Many clients pair it with an internal network test in a single proposal. The VAPT cost guide explains the factors.
The starting price for small scopes includes one free retest. For larger scopes, the retest terms are written into the proposal before work starts.
10 / FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Short answers about scope, price and how testing works. For anything else, call +91 86868 92922.
Will you test the line between our staff directory and customer systems?
Yes, for hosting suppliers it is a central question. We test whether a compromise of the office directory could reach the systems that run customers' servers, without touching those systems. See the section on Directory setups behind our Vizag identity work above.
Can you test with engineer accounts in scope?
Yes. We look at how privileged engineer logins are protected and where they sign in, using test accounts agreed in advance. See the section on Directory setups behind our Vizag identity work above.
How long does a directory test take for a hosting supplier?
It depends on the number of domains and the layers to keep apart; the proposal states the dates once the scope is agreed. See the section on What directory testing costs in Visakhapatnam above.
Will you change anything in our directory?
Only what a proof requires, agreed in advance, logged and reversed. Production data and customer systems are not altered. See the section on Questions to put to a directory tester serving a hosting supplier above.
Is anyone from BERRY9 needed on site?
Usually not. We start from a VPN login or a small device you connect, and visit only when it helps. See the section on Delivery of directory tests to Visakhapatnam organizations above.
What will it cost us?
A start from INR 27,000 + 18% GST, rising with domains, sites and the separation to be tested. See the section on What directory testing costs in Visakhapatnam above.
Plan your next security test
Tell us what needs testing and when you need it done, and we will propose a scope and timeline. We respond within 24 hours. If you would rather talk first, call or write to us.
- +91 86868 92922
- contact@berry9.com
- H.No: 8-3-945/A/12 & 13, Sri Venkata Sai Nest Apartments, Nagarjuna Nagar Colony, Yellareddyguda, Hyderabad 500073, Telangana