Summary

In this chapter, we were able to successfully set up an Active Directory Lab inside an isolated network environment in Microsoft Azure. We started by using Terraform to set up the isolated network environment so that we could secure the lab environment resources from external attacks. Inside this isolated network environment, we then launched two Windows VM instances. After that, we prepared and configured an Active Directory setup (using the VM instances we launched) with one domain controller and one workstation machine. After completing the lab environment, we performed a penetration testing simulation to verify if our lab had been (mis)configured correctly.

In the next chapter, we will discuss the best practices and strategies when building and automating penetration testing labs in the cloud. We will tackle specific techniques that will help us build on top of what we’ve learned in the chapters of this book.