1.6 Applicability Statement
Group Policy: Preferences Extension is only applicable within the Group Policy: Core Protocol framework. The Group Policy: Preferences Extension is used to express the required state of the client at the time that the client add-in executes. However, it is not recommended to express intentions that are sensitive in an information disclosure context, because the metadata that the protocol transmits is not encrypted. For example, an administrator is not to use this protocol to transmit a password that the client needs to access a resource, because that password is unencrypted during transmission and can be easily intercepted by an unauthorized user, thus compromising the resource. Within the Group Policy: Preferences Extension, sensitive information is encoded as applicable.
This protocol also applies only when many clients are required to receive the same settings. To configure individual clients with custom settings, use the Windows Remote Registry Protocol instead. For more information, see [MS-RRP].