Mississippi Gaming Commission streamlines Active Directory auditing and user monitoring with ADAudit Plus

Business challenges

• Absence of real-time AD insights: MGC's IT team struggled with gaining contextual visibility into the events happening within their Active Directory environment.
• User monitoring oversight: The organization was looking for a solution that helps its IT team assess various facets of user activity, including file/folder permission requests, users' adoption of password hygiene, to name a few

The Problem

MGC’s IT infrastructure faced significant gaps in visibility and monitoring, especially around Active Directory activities. The organization needed real-time insights into who was accessing their systems, attempting logins, and modifying critical files and folders. Shakir McGee, Systems Administration Technician at MGC, reflected on the challenge: “We didn’t have any insight into our environment, like who’s trying to log in, or who’s deleting files or folders, which posed a potential security risk.”

Moreover, the lack of detailed audit trails meant that critical information needed for security reviews or compliance audits was difficult to access. MGC needed a solution that could provide comprehensive, real-time auditing of AD changes, offering visibility into user actions, account lockouts, and password management. They also required a tool that could generate detailed, customizable reports to support security audits, all while being simple enough for the team to adopt quickly without extensive training.

The Solution

After implementing ADAudit Plus, MGC experienced significant improvements in its ability to monitor and secure its Active Directory environment. The platform provided real-time visibility into key activities such as login attempts, file modifications, and account lockouts. “With ADAudit Plus, we now have full visibility into when users are locked out, when they start using incorrect passwords, and when password resets occur,” said McGee. This newfound insight allowed the IT team to address potential security threats quickly and troubleshoot issues before they could escalate.

The reporting functionality of ADAudit Plus proved to be a valuable asset for MGC. McGee highlighted how the tool enabled them to generate detailed reports on user logins, making it easier to identify unauthorized access attempts: “I can run a report with all the logins from the past week to see if anyone outside of our agency is trying to log in,” he explained. This capability not only improved their internal security measures but also streamlined the audit process, providing all the necessary data for compliance reviews in just a few clicks. McGee also praised the tool's ease of use and simplicity, which minimized the learning curve for his team and allowed them to retrieve information whenever required by his team.

About ADAudit Plus

ADAudit Plus is a real-time Active Directory change auditing solution that features file and folder monitoring, plus access and permission change capabilities. With more than 200 event-specific reports and real-time email alerts, it provides in-depth knowledge about changes made to both the content and configurations of Active Directory, Azure AD, and Windows servers. Additionally, ADAudit Plus provides thorough insights on workstation and file server access (including NetApp and EMC). For more information about ADAudit Plus, visit https://www.manageengine.com/products/active-directory-audit/.