According to IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report:
“Cloud environments were the initial attack vector in 39% of breaches, and lateral movement was observed in nearly one-third of incidents, significantly increasing time to detect and contain.”
What is lateral movement, and what is its purpose? More importantly, how do organizations recognize and prevent it?
Quick recap: what is lateral movement in cybersecurity?
Lateral movement is a set of techniques that cybercriminals use to explore an infected network, uncover weaknesses, elevate access rights, and attain their final goal.
The term “lateral movement” is used because the hacker moves sideways from device to application, with the intention of progressing upwards in terms of access or deeper into data.
Risks of lateral movement
Lateral movement has two primary goals: access a certain account or data and control as many devices as feasible.
The nature of assault usually reflects the perpetrator’s ultimate purpose, whether it is for financial gain, the theft of data or private information, or other illegal conduct. Example objectives include:
- Ransomware – Ransomware perpetrators typically compel victims into paying by threatening to erase or disclose their data if payment is not received by a specified date.
- Cyber espionage – In this type of attack, the assailant doesn’t steal or make demands; instead, they do reconnaissance and eavesdrop on company operations.
- Data exfiltration – Data exfiltration can be performed by using social engineering, malware, or hacking to obtain personal or sensitive information.
- Botnet infection – Long-term cybercriminals assault systems with weak security to command and manage a large number of machines, forming a botnet. Botnet is an abbreviation for “robotic network,” a collection of computers with adequate computational power to conduct a more severe attack, such as a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.
Examples of lateral movement techniques
Here are some examples of lateral movement paths that cybercriminals may follow in an infected system:
- Pass-the-hash (PtH) attacks occur when a hacker obtains the hash of a password generated by an encryption system and passes it through the authentication mechanism to gain access.
- Internal spear phishing occur when someone gains access to a company’s email network by hacking a user’s account and then targeting specific people or groups within the organization.
- Remote service exploitation occurs when an attacker exploits someone’s access to remote services, such as Zoom video conferences, to gain access to key company resources.
- Secure shell hijacking (SSH) – In this scenario, a hacker uses a valid user’s SSH connection to spread laterally and infect other users or systems. SSH allows users to access macOS and Linux systems.
- Pass-the-ticket (PtT) attacks occur when an attacker acquires inside access and steals Kerberos tickets to gain access to other machines or files.
These lateral movement examples highlight how attackers use systematic vulnerability exploitation to exfiltrate data and/or steal credentials to acquire network access.
How lateral movement works: key stages
While criminals might use various methods and instruments to accomplish lateral movement, the attack includes several basic steps regardless of how it is carried out. The process begins with infecting the system with malware.
Infection
Most organizations have relatively strong external cyber defenses, so attackers rely primarily on human error to infect targets. They may plant harmful scripts on an insecure website to start malware downloads, exploit kits or packs that use system vulnerabilities to install malware, or send emails containing malicious links or attachments.
Compromise
Once infected, the device will most likely interact with the hacker’s command-and-control server (C2 or C&C server) to indicate that it is ready to receive commands. Using a remote shell and sometimes a graphical user interface (GUI), attackers can send commands to the compromised machine undetected.
Reconnaissance
The reconnaissance stage focuses on observation and mapping. The infected device is rarely the ultimate target of the attack, so the attacker uses it to determine how to achieve their aim. First, they must understand their location in the network, not only geographically but also in terms of permissions, access, and any barriers. Second, they must learn organizational policies such as file naming conventions, access levels, and hierarchy.
Credential theft
To go laterally, the attacker requires login credentials. They can accomplish credential dumping, or stealing login information from software or an operating system, using software tools such as keyloggers and the Windows Credential Editor. Other common methods include social engineering and brute-force attacks.
Detecting lateral movement in your network
The average time it takes an attacker to move laterally after getting access is less than half an hour, so security teams should step up their detection and response plans. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Map lateral movement routes (LMPs)
First, identify potential LMPs in your organization’s network. Examine the architecture and hierarchy to identify potentially vulnerable links between devices, data, and systems. While it may be impossible to remove them, you can monitor and safeguard them.
Leverage reporting tools
Tools for monitoring and reporting are critical for detecting suspicious activities. However, be wary of alert fatigue and combine notifications for prioritizing.
Monitor unknown devices
In this day and age of “bring your own device” (BYOD) to work, it is normal for unknown devices to register on the network; however, don’t just assume it’s an employee. Keep an eye out for any strange activity on these devices.
Investigate and evaluate user behavior
Analyzing behavioral patterns using machine learning can help isolate and investigate abnormalities. While some unusual behavior is not cause for alarm, examination and inquiry may reveal illicit activities.
Investigate unusual administrative responsibilities and file sharing
Attackers will try to escape detection by using native tools; however, this creates detectable abnormalities. Furthermore, hackers doing reconnaissance would test access to servers containing sensitive information, so differences in file-sharing access can indicate lateral movement.
Monitor logins, particularly on devices that use multiple credentials
Users coming in at unexpected times or after hours, as well as multiple logins on the same device, may be evidence of lateral mobility.
Detect port scans and suspicious network protocols
Hackers use port scans as part of their reconnaissance; however, intrusion detection systems can detect these scans. Furthermore, there may be differences between the protocol utilized for a connection and the data delivered or received, indicating that encryption wasn’t employed.
Preventing lateral movement in cybersecurity
A security posture that avoids intrusion is preferable to one that simply detects and responds. So, while it may not always be able to prevent an attack and subsequent lateral movement, your security team can take steps to minimize the risk.
Implement zero-trust security
Because a zero-trust system thinks that all users are threats until proven otherwise, lateral mobility is extremely difficult.
Update your software and apply system fixes on a regular basis
All operating systems, software, services, endpoints, and systems should be kept up to date, with patches delivered regularly.
Enforce the principle of least privilege (PoLP)
Make sure users only have access to what they need to complete their given duties.
Update the endpoint security solutions
Endpoints are particularly vulnerable to unwanted access, so methods for monitoring and securing them are critical. Cybercriminals frequently don’t care what device gets them in as long as they can move laterally once inside. No endpoint should be left exposed.
Implement network segmentation
Segmentation, also known as micro-segmentation, guarantees that sensitive network sections are segregated, with no paths for lateral movement, and strategically placed in relation to the rest of the system to allow secure, privileged access.
Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA)
MFA adds layers of security to user logins, such that even if a user’s credentials are compromised, access is denied if each stage of security doesn’t verify the identity of the person requesting access.
Back up crucial data
Having backups reduces the possibility of ransomware and ensures that data can be fully restored even if the system is compromised.
Understanding lateral movement in Kubernetes workloads
In Kubernetes environments, lateral movement occurs when an attacker, after compromising a single container or pod, moves across the cluster to access other workloads, services, or even control plane components. This tactic is often used to escalate privileges, exfiltrate data, or persist within the environment undetected.
Traditional perimeter defenses are insufficient in containerized applications where workloads are ephemeral, distributed, and interconnected. Once inside, attackers can exploit misconfigured RBAC policies, overly permissive network access, or shared namespaces to pivot laterally across nodes and services.
Wrap up
Lateral movement remains one of the most dangerous phases of a cyberattack, allowing threat actors to quietly expand their foothold and access critical assets long after the initial breach.
By implementing network segmentation, adopting zero trust principles, monitoring for anomalous behavior, enforcing least privilege access, and maintaining robust endpoint detection, organizations can significantly reduce an attacker’s ability to move freely through their environment.
The key is shifting from a perimeter-focused mindset to one that assumes breaches will happen and designs defenses accordingly – because in today’s threat landscape, it’s not enough to keep attackers out; you need to stop them in their tracks once they’re inside.
