In a world where data breaches have become as common as cat videos, Active Directory (AD) has emerged as the ultimate party favor for cybercriminals. It’s the authentication backbone for over 90% of Fortune 1000 companies, which of course makes it irresistible to digital miscreants everywhere. Why hack one account when you can have them all?

As businesses adopt hybrid and cloud infrastructures in a quest for modernity—or a mildly faster way to lose your password—AD’s complexity has skyrocketed. Much like your grandmother’s attic of forgotten hobbies, it contains everything from old user profiles to devices you haven’t seen since the Eisenhower administration. This has turned AD into the ultimate digital treasure trove, or perhaps a more apt analogy, a digital junkyard.

For attackers, compromising Active Directory is akin to hitting the jackpot in a casino that only deals in cybersecurity screw-ups. Every application, user, and device traces back to AD, making it the closest thing hackers have to a ‘get hacked for free’ card. It’s no wonder they’re flocking to it like it’s a limited-edition NFT of the Mona Lisa.