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The stealthy technique attackers use to navigate through a network after gaining initial access, expanding their reach and hunting for valuable assets.
Explore InsightIDRLateral movement refers to the techniques that cybercriminals use to progressively move through a network after gaining initial access. Once attackers establish a foothold in your network, they don't stay put—instead, they navigate sideways (laterally) across the environment, searching for valuable assets and elevated privileges while avoiding detection.
This technique is particularly dangerous because it allows threat actors to:
Lateral movement is a critical phase in sophisticated cyber attacks, appearing in the middle of the cyber kill chain between initial exploitation and data exfiltration. It serves as the bridge that transforms a simple breach into a potentially devastating network-wide compromise.
Lateral movement attacks typically follow a methodical progression that allows attackers to expand their control within a network:
Each stage builds upon the previous one, with lateral movement serving as the critical expansion phase that allows attackers to transform a single compromised endpoint into a network-wide breach.
Attackers employ a variety of sophisticated techniques to move laterally within networks, each selected based on the target environment, security controls in place, and the attacker's specific objectives. Understanding these methods is crucial for security teams to effectively detect and prevent lateral movement attempts.
The most effective attackers typically combine multiple lateral movement techniques, adapting their approach based on the defenses they encounter and the specific architecture of the compromised network.
Attackers steal user credentials stored in memory, browser cookies, or credential stores to authenticate to other systems. Tools like Mimikatz can extract plaintext passwords or password hashes directly from memory.
Instead of needing the actual password, attackers reuse the stolen password hash to authenticate to other systems, bypassing the need to crack the password itself. This technique is particularly effective in Windows environments using NTLM (New Technology LAN Manager) authentication.
In Linux and Unix environments, attackers may steal SSH keys or establish SSH tunnels to move between systems while masking their traffic as legitimate administrative connections.
Attackers exploit vulnerabilities or misconfigurations to gain higher levels of access, allowing them to reach more sensitive areas of the network. This often involves targeting misconfigured services, outdated software with known vulnerabilities, or weak network access controls.
Attackers leverage legitimate remote management tools like Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), PowerShell remoting, PsExec, or Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to execute commands on remote systems.
Attackers compromised the SolarWinds Orion software supply chain, inserting malicious code that was distributed to thousands of organizations. Once inside victim networks, the attackers used sophisticated lateral movement techniques to reach critical systems containing valuable intelligence data. They maintained stealth by blending their traffic with legitimate SolarWinds communications.
The DarkSide ransomware group gained initial access through a compromised VPN credential. They then moved laterally through Colonial's network until they reached the billing system and IT infrastructure, ultimately deploying ransomware that forced the company to shut down operations, creating fuel shortages across the eastern United States.
Attackers initially compromised a third-party HVAC vendor with access to Target's network. From this foothold, they performed lateral movement to reach point-of-sale systems across Target's stores, ultimately stealing credit card information for over 40 million customers.
Detecting lateral movement requires vigilance and multiple layers of monitoring:
Monitoring network traffic patterns can reveal unusual connections between systems that rarely communicate or unauthorized protocols and ports being used. Baseline normal traffic patterns and set alerts for deviations.
Track authentication events, especially failed login attempts, successful logins from unusual locations or times, or multiple rapid login attempts across different systems. Behavioral analytics can establish normal patterns and flag anomalies.
Advanced EDR solutions can detect unusual process executions, suspicious command-line arguments, or the creation of unexpected scheduled tasks that might indicate lateral movement activity.
UEBA tools establish baseline behaviors for users and systems, then flag activities that deviate from these norms, such as a user accessing systems they rarely use or accessing them at unusual hours.
Deploy honeypots, fake credentials, or decoy systems to trick attackers into revealing themselves when they attempt to use these resources for lateral movement.
Centralize and analyze logs (log management) from across your environment, looking for indicators of compromised accounts, privilege escalation, or suspicious remote execution commands.
Preventing lateral movement requires a defense-in-depth approach:
Divide your network into isolated segments with strict access controls between them. This prevents attackers from easily moving between different parts of your network, containing potential breaches.
Ensure users and systems have only the permissions necessary to perform their functions. Limit the number of administrative accounts and the systems they can access.
Implement MFA for all accounts, especially privileged ones. This creates an additional barrier for attackers even if they obtain credentials.
Use PAM solutions to secure, control, and monitor privileged account usage. Consider just-in-time privileged access that grants elevated permissions only when needed and for limited durations.
Frequently change passwords for service accounts and privileged users to limit the usefulness of compromised credentials.
Keep all systems updated with the latest security patches to close vulnerabilities that could be exploited for lateral movement.
Develop your endpoint security by restricting local administrative access, disabling unnecessary services, and implementing application whitelisting to prevent unauthorized code execution.
Adopt a "never trust, always verify" approach that requires strict identity verification for everyone and everything trying to access resources, regardless of their location.
Lateral movement remains one of the most critical phases in sophisticated cyberattacks, allowing threat actors to transform a single breach into a network-wide compromise. By understanding the techniques attackers use and implementing robust detection and prevention strategies, organizations can significantly reduce the risk of successful lateral movement and limit the impact of security incidents.
With threat actors constantly refining their tactics and developing more sophisticated methods of evading detection, organizations must adopt a resilient security strategy. This means implementing layered defenses, fostering a strong security culture, conducting regular penetration testing, and embracing a proactive mindset that prioritizes threat hunting, continuous monitoring, and rapid incident response capabilities.