Active Directory
In short
Active Directory is Microsoft's directory service for Windows networks. It manages in one central place who may sign in, which devices belong to the company and who can access which folders, printers and programs. In many SMEs it has run on a server of its own for years, which makes it the core every login depends on – often without anyone calling it that.
The common mistake: Entra ID is Active Directory in the cloud
The name suggested it for a long time: Microsoft's cloud service was called Azure Active Directory until 2023 and is now Microsoft Entra ID. But it is not an outsourced server; it is a different system.
Entra ID has no group policies in the classic sense, and it only speaks the older sign-in protocols of a Windows network through add-on services. Switching is therefore not a move but a rebuild – devices are then managed through Microsoft Intune instead of group policies, for example.
Why it is the biggest risk in the network
Whoever takes over the Active Directory takes over the company. Attackers therefore go looking for administrator accounts, old passwords and service accounts with too many rights.
The most common weaknesses are unspectacular: an administrator account that is also used to read email, accounts of former staff that were never disabled, and a server whose updates have been pending for months.
For a Swiss company
Many SMEs sit between two worlds today: a local server with Active Directory for file storage and industry software, plus Microsoft 365 in the cloud. The two are connected by a sync so that one password works for both.
Microsoft has operated data centres in Switzerland since 2019, in the Zurich and Geneva regions. Where email and files are stored is therefore a decision to make deliberately when moving away from your own server – before a customer asks.
How we handle it
We tidy up before we change anything: accounts, permissions, administrators. A move to the cloud with the same legacy problems only relocates them.
Whether Active Directory stays, runs in hybrid mode or is replaced by Entra ID is decided by the industry software, not by fashion. It is part of managed IT and Microsoft 365, secured with single sign-on and two-factor authentication.
A term in your quote that nobody explained?
In a strategy call we translate the offer in front of you – even when it did not come from us.