NTDS.DIT Access via Suspicious Windows Utilities

Gaurav Thakare@gauravthakare

•updated Sep 7, 2026•4•1•12

Detects instances where sensitive Active Directory database files (NTDS.DIT) are accessed, correlated with the execution of common system administration utilities (ntdsutil, vssadmin, diskshadow, esentutl) known to be leveraged by adversaries to create volume shadow copies or extract data for offline credential harvesting.