SMB Signing and LDAP Channel Binding — Closing the "Other Half" of Your NTLM Defences in Practice (archived 2026-08-30)

Q: What does this research mean for the field?

Implementing SMB signing and LDAP channel binding effectively limits the damage from relay attacks while organizations transition away from NTLM authentication. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.SYNTHESIS. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

Go Komura

doi:10.5281/zenodo.22170802

August 30, 2026Open Access

SMB Signing and LDAP Channel Binding — Closing the "Other Half" of Your NTLM Defences in Practice (archived 2026-08-30)

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Key Points

Provide practical guidance on configuring and enforcing SMB signing and LDAP channel binding to protect enterprise networks from relay attacks during NTLM deprecation.
Assessed default security settings and configuration options across different operating system versions.
Outlined monitoring procedures using system audit logs to detect and remediate incompatible legacy applications and devices prior to policy enforcement.
Establishes a staged transition roadmap from audit logging to mandatory enforcement for SMB and LDAP communication protections.
Identifies remediation workflows to resolve device and application compatibility errors caused by strict authentication requirements.

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Implication

Technical review outlines enforcement strategies for SMB signing and LDAP channel binding across enterprise systems, highlighting practical configurations to mitigate NTLM relay attacks.

Abstract

SMB signing and LDAP signing/channel binding are the defences that limit the damage from relay attacks while you work towards retiring NTLM. This article lays out the per-OS default values, how to read the audit events, the steps for moving to enforcement, and how to fix business applications and devices, from a practical standpoint. Archived version of https://comcomponent.com/en/blog/smb-signing-ldap-channel-binding/, as published on 2026-08-30. The live article is maintained and may change after this date. First published 2026-07-29.

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Go Komura (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a954263f20e493292a749e6 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22170802

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SMB Signing and LDAP Channel Binding — Closing the "Other Half" of Your NTLM Defences in Practice (archived 2026-08-30)

Key Points

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Implication

Abstract

Discussion

Cite This Study

SMB Signing and LDAP Channel Binding — Closing the "Other Half" of Your NTLM Defences in Practice (archived 2026-08-30)

Key Points

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Implication

Abstract

Discussion

Cite This Study

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