Configuring audit policies - Manual configuration

Audit policies must be configured to ensure that events are logged whenever any activity occurs.

Configuring advanced audit policies

Advanced audit policies help administrators exercise granular control over which activities get recorded in the logs, helping cut down on event noise. It is recommended that advanced audit policies are configured on domain controllers running on Windows Server 2008 and above.

• Log in to any computer that has the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC), with Domain Admin credentials → Open GPMC → Right click on Default Domain Controllers Policy → Edit.
• In the Group Policy Management Editor → Computer Configuration → Policies → Windows Settings → Security Settings → Advanced Audit Policy Configuration → Audit Policy, Double-click on the relevant policy setting.
• Navigate to the right pane → Right-click on the relevant Subcategory, and then click Properties → Select Success, Failure, or both; as directed in the table below.

Category	Sub Category	Audit Events
Account Logon	Audit Kerberos Authentication Service	Success and Failure
Account Management	Audit Computer Account Management Audit Distribution Group Management Audit Security Group Management	Success
	Audit User Account Management	Success and Failure
Detailed Tracking	Audit Process Creation Audit Process Termination	Success
DS Access	Audit Directory Services Changes Audit Directory Service Access	Success
Logon /Logoff	Audit Logon Audit Network Policy Server	Success and Failure
	Audit Other Logon/Logoff Events Audit Logoff	Success
Object Access	Audit Other Object Access Events	Success
Policy Change	Audit Authentication Policy Change Audit Authorization Policy Change	Success
System	Audit Security State Change	Success

Image showing: Account Logon category → Audit Kerberos Authentication Service subcategory → Both Success and Failure configured.

Enforcing advanced audit policies

When using advanced audit policies, ensure that they are forced over legacy audit policies.

• Log in to any computer that has the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC), with Domain Admin credentials → Open GPMC → Right click on Default Domain Controllers Policy → Edit.
• In the Group Policy Management Editor → Computer Configuration → Policies → Windows Settings → Security Settings → Local Policies → Security Options.
• Navigate to the right pane → Right-click on Audit: Force audit policy subcategory settings → Properties → Enable.

Configuring legacy audit policies

The option to configure advanced audit policies is not available in Windows Server 2003 and below. Therefore for these systems, you need to configure the legacy audit policies.

• Log in to any computer that has the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC), with Domain Admin credentials → Open GPMC → Right click on Default Domain Controllers Policy → Edit.
• In the Group Policy Management Editor → Computer Configuration → Policies → Windows Settings → Security Settings → Local Policies → Double click on Audit Policy.
• Navigate to the right pane → Right-click on the relevant policy, and then click Properties → Select Success, Failure, or both; as directed in the table below-

Category	Audit Events
Account Logon	Success and Failure
Audit Logon / Logoff	Success and Failure
Account Management	Success
Directory Service Access	Success
Process Tracking	Success
Object Access	Success
System Events	Success

Image showing: Audit account logon events category → Both Success and Failure configured.

Note: To enable auditing of NTLM events, log in to ADAudit Plus' web console → Click on the Support tab > Under Support Info, click on More > Under Configuration, click on Enable/Disable Configuration settings > Enable NTLM Auditing.