Active Directory and Windows Server 2025 Security Basics

What you'll learn

⚡ Build a Windows Server 2025 lab on Hyper-V (DC1, SRV1 and a Windows 11 client) with checkpoints you can always go back to
⚡ Score a domain's security with a read-only PowerShell script, read why a fresh domain fails, and keep the result to compare later
⚡ Explain how an attack on Active Directory unfolds, which logs each step leaves, and where zero trust and security baselines break the chain
⚡ Read SIDs, access tokens and privileges, and work out allow and deny decisions on files and shares, including inherited and share permissions
⚡ Explain how Windows signs users in (LSA, Kerberos, NTLM) and fix stale group membership, clock skew and NTLM fallback
⚡ Set password and lockout policy where it really applies, trace a lockout to its source, close three quick gaps and prove it with a second score

Requirements

❗ You know what a domain, a user account and a Group Policy are - the course does not teach Windows from zero
❗ A PC with Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise or Education, virtualisation on in the firmware, 16 GB RAM (32 GB is better) and about 200 GB free on an SSD
❗ No paid software: the lab uses Microsoft's free evaluation editions of Windows Server 2025 and Windows 11
❗ Some PowerShell helps; every command is shown on screen and explained

Description

This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.
This is a hands-on course on the security basics of Active Directory and Windows Server 2025. You build a Windows Server 2025 domain on your own PC, measure its security with a scoring script, learn how attacks on Active Directory work and how Windows decides who is allowed in, and then apply a first set of fixes, confirmed by a second score.
What the course covers
✨The lab. One Hyper-V host on a private network with three virtual machines: DC1, the first domain controller of a new forest; SRV1, a member server; and CLIENT1 on Windows 11. The lab uses free evaluation editions only, and a checkpoint named "Lab ready" lets you return to a known state at any time.
✨A starting score. A read-only PowerShell script scores the new domain out of 100. You review the script before you run it, see why a fresh domain fails eleven of its checks, and keep the result as the baseline.
✨Foundations of security. What attackers look for in a domain, the stages of an attack on Active Directory and the log evidence each stage leaves, zero trust in practical terms, the CIS and Microsoft security baselines, and how policies, standards and procedures keep settings in place.
✨Internals of Windows security. SIDs, access tokens and privileges; security descriptors and the order of an access check; the LSA and which sign-ins leave credentials behind; Kerberos and NTLM compared. In the lab you read your own token and watch Kerberos tickets being issued, purged and requested again.
✨Fixes and the final score. A 14-character password policy and an account lockout policy, set where they take effect and verified in PowerShell; a lockout traced to the computer it came from; the Print Spooler turned off on the domain controller; the AD Recycle Bin turned on; and computer joins limited to administrators. The score is then run again, compared with the baseline, and summarised in a one-minute report for a manager.
Structure of the course
Every section ends with a short quiz, and the theory sections also include a scenario-based knowledge check. The key demos come with one-page checklists that list what you should see and where each step starts in the video.
Outcome
By the end of the course you can answer the question "how secure is our domain?" with a score, the evidence behind it, and an ordered list of what to fix next.

Who this course is for

⭐ Windows and Active Directory administrators who want to see how their domain is attacked, and close the first gaps an attacker would use
⭐ Help desk and support staff moving into a security role
⭐ Security staff who need the Windows side in depth: tokens, permissions, sign-ins, Kerberos and NTLM
⭐ Anyone asked "how secure is our domain?" who wants to answer with a number and evidence, not a guess

Homepage

https://www.udemy.com/course/windows-server-security

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