GPO Hardening Lab

This lab demonstrates how to use Group Policy in Active Directory to enforce security settings across workstations.

Objectives

• Create a security baseline GPO.
• Apply password and account lockout policies.
• Disable legacy / insecure protocols where possible.
• Restrict local administrator usage.
• Validate that GPOs apply to target OUs.

Example Hardening Ideas

• Password policy: length, complexity, history.
• Account lockout: threshold and duration.
• Disable guest accounts.
• Configure Windows Firewall defaults.
• Disable LM / NTLM where compatible with the environment.

Script

• Scripts/Apply-GPO.ps1 – Creates and links a GPO called Security-Baseline to an OU.

After running the script, edit the GPO in the Group Policy Management Console to configure detailed settings.

Author

Eyouel Melaku