Enhancing AD visibility and SOX compliance for Fortune Brands Innovations with ADAudit Plus

Business challenges

• Lack of visibility: Fortune Brands' IT team needed comprehensive visibility into Active Directory activities such as changes, lockouts, and user actions. robust reporting capabilities to monitor various aspects of Active Directory.
• Audit readiness: Ensuring compliance with regulatory standards was a major concern for Fortune, and the organization required audit-ready reports and information that can be instantly furnished to auditors.

The Problem

Before implementing ADAudit Plus, the IT team at Fortune Brands Innovations faced significant challenges in managing their Active Directory (AD) environment. According to Michael Plourde, Server Architecture Supervisor, the organization lacked visibility into AD changes, lockouts, and other critical events. The existing reporting capabilities were insufficient, making it difficult to track, audit, and investigate complex AD activities with the necessary evidence.

Additionally, complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) requirements was a major concern as the stand needed to provide detailed audit information. Monitoring user activities, such as login times and file modifications, was also a challenge, impacting their ability to maintain security and operational efficiency. Michael noted, "We wanted to have more visibility into everything that happens with Active Directory, including changes, lockouts, etc. Being able to run reports over different aspects of Active Directory was also desired."

The Solution

Fortune Brands Innovations leveraged ADAudit Plus, ManageEngine's AD monitoring solution, to address their AD management challenges effectively. The solution's comprehensive library of reports provided detailed insights on AD changes, giving end-to-end visibility into the last change on AD objects while helping Plourde's IT team track changes over specific time periods. Michael highlighted, "Using reports can give a lot of detailed information about how things have changed over a time period. We also like being able to see the last change on a particular object."

ADAudit Plus' robust reporting capabilities eliminated the need for extensive PowerShell knowledge, enabling the team to generate comprehensive reports effortlessly. "There really aren't any limits with what the included reports can show you, and it is an invaluable resource," Michael stated. He added that ADAudit Plus also ensured compliance with SOX requirements by providing the necessary audit information. User monitoring capabilities were significantly enhanced, allowing the team to track user logins, attribute modifications, and file activities.

Michael explained, "We sometimes need to know the last time a user attribute was modified or when their last login was. Knowing when a user last logged into a system or what files were modified by a particular user is particularly helpful."

ADAudit Plus also helped identify and resolve password lockout issues by tracking the source and target systems for wrong authentications. Plourde opined that ADAudit Plus' usability, particularly is reporting features, to be 'limitless', concluding, "[ADAudit Plus] is absolutely perfect as an auditing solution. We've used the product for all types of auditing, and it is not limited in its purpose or scope."

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/.