Re: Remove Administrator Account from Administrators Group

Security is all about cost (knowledge/$$) to break it !

A more security issue is to have random password.
We had an external audit. They needed half day to break the local admin password (it was a long long one but this damned lan man hash was still activated). Then they were not just local admin, but admin of all workstation.
They set up a trap on a computer of a domain admins one...you guess it, they became domain admins...

renaming is good, individual passwors is great !

Ok, even with lan man hash, they needed rainbow table + brute force. Without lan man they would have needed a lot more time. Multiply this time by every computer.. :)

--
Cordialement,
Mathieu CHATEAU
http://lordoftheping.blogspot.com


"Thomas M." <NoEmailReplies@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:%23LosmJa6HHA.5424@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
And that's really all we are trying to do. I am in charge of limiting user rights for employees ranging from the receptionist to high-level IT staff, including Exchange Server administrators with 10 years of experience. We figure that renaming the Administrator account is not going to stop a determined Exchange Server administrator with the knowledge and rights to get around things, but it might stop the less knowledgeable and less motivated, and so therefore it's a step in the right direction. Also, we are renaming the account to something sufficiently random (renaming it to "Admin" would be pretty pointless since that could be easily guessed by a remote user).

Going back the issue of high-level IT staff, given their knowledge and rights it may not be possible from a technical perspective to stop them from working around security policies, but there are other options available, such as disciplinary actions, that may dissuade people from attempting to circumvent security.

--Tom

"Mathieu CHATEAU" <gollum123@xxxxxxx> wrote in message news:85ADE192-7904-4327-AC59-703E8C59DEB2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
indeed, that just help if someone try to break it remotely (so without the knowledge it's not the default name)



--
Cordialement,
Mathieu CHATEAU
http://lordoftheping.blogspot.com


"G Johansson" <fantomen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:O9s3NuX6HHA.5164@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Just for your information, renaming the administrator account is not really a security option since it will still have same SID.

--
G Johansson
fantomen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://GPfaq.se


"Thomas M." <NoEmailReplies@xxxxxxxxxx> skrev i meddelandet news:%23iWcSTQ6HHA.1208@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Yep. That part I got. I was just not seeing where to find the policy to rename the local Administrator account. I'm trying Mathieu's suggestion for that, and will post back here once I have tested it.

--Tom

"Paul O" <polson@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:ui9eVvP6HHA.1484@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I use GPMC Computer Config>Windows Settings>Security Settings>Restricted Groups to add or remove local groups from the local admin group.
Look up 'Restricted Groups' on MS or the web for more info.

PaulO

"Thomas M." <NoEmailReplies@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:u7zTcgM6HHA.3716@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
We are in the process of creating a group policy that will limit user rights on the desktop. A major element of our group policy is that it will push down the local Administrators group, which will contain a domain group for Network Administrators so that we will have administrator rights to all machines. Currently, the local Administrator account is a member of the Administrators group that is pushed down by the group policy. Our security officer would like us to either remove the local Administrator account from the group policy, or push it down under a different name. In other words, if you were to logon to a PC that gets the group policy, and check the local Administrators group, you would not see the local Administrator account listed as a member, but you might see an account called something like "SecureDesktop" that would be the local Administrator account under a different name.

Given that you can't manually remove the local Administrator account from the local Administrators group (you get a message akin to, "This action is not allowed for built-in accounts"), I would say that what our security officer is asking may not be possible. However, I am very new to group policies and thought that I should seek some expert advice on whether or not this can be achieved through a group policy.

Is there a way through a group policy to remove the local Administrator account from the local Administrators group, or to push it down under a different name?

--Tom











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