Iranian state-aligned threat groups are increasingly targeting identity systems as the fastest path to enterprise compromise.
A leading global manufacturer wanted to understand their exposure: could an adversary using Iranian tradecraft covertly take control of their Active Directory environment?
To answer this, they used Horizon3.ai’s NodeZero® to run an autonomous pentest modeled on real-world attacker behavior.
Within hours, NodeZero identified Zerologon (CVE-2020-1472) on a critical domain controller, a flaw that enables full domain compromise.
This attack path aligns with how Iranian groups like MuddyWater and Magic Hound operate, using credential abuse and native tools to escalate privileges and move laterally without detection.
For the organization, this represented a direct path to its most critical systems.
Teams mobilized immediately to:
But remediation alone was not enough.
They re-ran the same NodeZero test using the same adversary techniques to validate the fix.
Within ~ 24 hours:
This was validated, not assumed.
As Iranian threat activity continues to escalate, organizations can no longer rely on assumed security or point-in-time fixes, especially in identity systems.
This engagement proved that:
With NodeZero, the organization:
All in under a little over one day.
In a threat landscape shaped by nation-state actors, continuous validation, not assumptions, is what defines real security.