Book Image

Mastering Windows Group Policy

By : Jordan Krause
5 (1)
Book Image

Mastering Windows Group Policy

5 (1)
By: Jordan Krause

Overview of this book

This book begins with a discussion of the core material any administrator needs to know in order to start working with Group Policy. Moving on, we will also walk through the process of building a lab environment to start testing Group Policy today. Next we will explore the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC) and start using the powerful features available for us within that interface. Once you are well versed with using GPMC, you will learn to perform and manage the traditional core tasks inside Group Policy. Included in the book are many examples and walk-throughs of the different filtering options available for the application of Group Policy settings, as this is the real power that Group Policy holds within your network. You will also learn how you can use Group Policy to secure your Active Directory environment, and also understand how Group Policy preferences are different than policies, with the help of real-world examples. Finally we will spend some time on maintenance and troubleshooting common Group Policy-related issues so that you, as a directory administrator, will understand the diagnosing process for policy settings. By the end of the book, you will be able to jump right in and use Group Policy to its full potential.
Table of Contents (12 chapters)

Blocking USB Drives

You have probably heard about the, "Whoops! I dropped my USB stick in the parking lot" penetration test that was performed years ago. If not, here is the short version: pen testers configured a bunch of USB memory sticks so that as soon as those sticks were plugged into a computer, they would immediately run some malicious code that the user was completely unaware of. Anybody who used one of these USB sticks would think it was a blank volume, waiting for them to store documents, pictures, whatever they needed. In the background, however, the USB stick would "phone home" and record when it was plugged in, proving that code can be executed by simply plugging in one of these USB drives.

Then... the pen testers dropped a bunch of these USB sticks in a company's parking lot. This is recalled strictly from my own memory, but the numbers were...