Group Policy

A Windows feature that lets administrators centrally configure and enforce settings, such as password rules and security options, across many computers and users.

Group Policy works with Active Directory to apply consistent settings to computers and user accounts across a Windows network. Administrators can use it to require screen locks, set password requirements, map network drives, restrict software installation, configure Windows Firewall and much more. In cloud-managed environments, similar settings are usually delivered through tools like Microsoft Intune.

Consistency is one of the most important parts of security. Without central management, each computer ends up configured differently, and it is easy to miss a critical setting on one machine. Group Policy lets a small IT team, or an outsourced provider, enforce the same protections on every device. On the other hand, attackers who gain administrator access can misuse it to push malicious changes to every computer.

Practical tip: ask your IT provider which security baselines are being applied to your computers, whether through Group Policy or a cloud tool, and how changes to those policies are reviewed and logged. Limit who can edit Group Policy to a small number of trusted administrator accounts.