Over 90 Percent of IT Administrators Manage Groups in Active Directory Manually

LIVERMORE, Calif., May 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Network administrators spend significant IT resources managing groups of users and computers including those in Active Directory (AD). This is essential as Active AD user authentication confirms the identity of any user trying to log on to a domain and lets users access systems, files, folders, and more. If managed improperly, this poses a significant security threat.

Groups in AD need to change as the roles of users change, be it responsibilities, roles and locations. The issue is that groups are often manually maintained by the Exchange or AD administrator. According to a recent survey by Osterman Research, 59 percent of organizations manage groups in AD only manually, eight percent use an automated system, and 33 percent use a combination of manual and automatic methods, meaning that over 90 percent are still managing groups in AD manually.

The report also outlined the costs associated with managing groups. According to Osterman Research, the median IT time investment in managing groups during a typical week is 8.3 hours for 1,000 users. If you assume the average, fully burdened salary for an IT administrator is $80,000 annually, the cost would amount to $16,600 per 1,000 users annually.

Group management is also overlooked when it comes to security as IT departments rely on popular security defenses such as firewalls and anti-virus software. However, not regularly updating groups can leave organizations vulnerable to various security implications.

"We anticipate that continued data breaches, coupled with additional regulations aimed at victim notification, will drive more organizations to adopt stricter controls for data access," said Michael Osterman, Principal, Osterman Research. "One of these changes will be in the way that AD groups are managed."

The report also found that 33 percent of organizations have non-traditional uses for AD groups, such as not to email a group or to grant or deny access within a security group. In addition, 56 percent of organizations have used AD groups for SharePoint access, a role for groups that will become significantly greater with the increasing popularity of SharePoint.

"As the amount of corporate content migrates to SharePoint, and as the consequences for data breaches become more severe, keeping groups updated in AD in a near real-time manner becomes crucial," said Robert Haaverson, CEO of Imanami. "This will be vital in heavily regulated industries that need to show that they are compliant and systems are up to date, like energy, financial services and healthcare."

According to the survey, the five most common uses for AD groups are:

1. Grant access to files and folders (93 percent)
2. Grant permission to systems (78 percent)
3. Applying Group Policy Objects at the group level (73 percent)
4. Sending email to distribution groups (66 percent)
5. Send email to mail-enabled security groups (43 percent)

These findings were revealed in an Osterman Research study, entitled "Active Directory Group Management: Challenges, Cost and Uses." The report provides an analysis of the time and cost spent and the potential problems faced when managing groups in AD. The study was conducted in April 2010 with over 100 organizations that are using Microsoft Exchange as a production email system.  

For a full copy of the report, visit www.imanami.com.

About Imanami

Imanami® is a Microsoft® Gold Partner that specializes in group lifecycle management for Active Directory in Microsoft environments. Imanami's software solutions significantly enhance the functionality of Exchange and Active Directory implementations. Based in Livermore, California, Imanami is a private company with customers in industries such as education, financial services, government, healthcare, retail and telecom. For more information about Imanami, please visit www.imanami.com or call 1-800-684-8515, Option 1.

SOURCE Imanami