How Attackers Move Across Networks to Escalate Attacks
Cyber attackers rarely stop after breaching a single system. Instead, they employ lateral movement to navigate through an organization’s network, escalating privileges, evading detection, and ultimately accessing critical assets. This technique allows attackers to expand their foothold, compromise multiple systems, and execute large-scale breaches, such as ransomware attacks or data exfiltration.
Lateral movement is especially dangerous because it enables adversaries to blend in with normal network activity, making detection difficult. Security teams must understand the methods attackers use, the signs of lateral movement, and the strategies to contain and prevent it before it leads to severe damage.
How Lateral Movement Works
Lateral movement follows a structured attack pattern:
- Initial Access – Attackers gain entry through phishing, stolen credentials, or unpatched vulnerabilities.
- Internal Reconnaissance – Mapping out the network to locate valuable systems and accounts.
- Credential Theft & Privilege Escalation – Stealing login credentials and increasing user privileges to access restricted areas.
- Persistence & Evasion – Deploying tools to maintain access while avoiding detection.
Final Objective Execution – Exfiltrating sensitive data, deploying ransomware, or disrupting operations.
Common Lateral Movement Techniques
1. Pass-the-Hash and Pass-the-Ticket Attacks
Instead of cracking passwords, attackers use stolen hashed credentials or authentication tokens to impersonate legitimate users. This allows them to authenticate across multiple systems without needing plaintext passwords.
Example:
- A hacker steals NTLM hashes from an infected machine and reuses them to access other systems in the network.
2. Exploiting Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and SSH
Attackers often hijack RDP and SSH sessions to move laterally across servers. Once inside, they can control additional systems as if they were legitimate users.
How they do it:
- Brute-forcing weak RDP credentials to gain access to a privileged server.
- Leveraging stolen SSH keys from an admin’s workstation to control multiple machines.
3. Living off the Land (LotL) Attacks
Instead of deploying malware, attackers abuse built-in system tools to avoid detection. These tools include:
- PowerShell – Used to execute malicious scripts.
- PsExec – A legitimate Microsoft tool that allows remote command execution.
- WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) – Used to move laterally and execute commands remotely.
Since these tools are natively part of the operating system, traditional antivirus solutions often fail to detect them.
4. Exploiting Unsecured Network Shares
Misconfigured network shares allow attackers to:
- Access sensitive files without authentication.
- Drop malware into shared directories, spreading infections across the organization.
5. Kerberoasting Attacks
Attackers target Kerberos authentication tickets to crack passwords of privileged accounts. Once they obtain service tickets, they can decrypt and extract administrator credentials for further movement.
How to Detect Lateral Movement
Lateral movement is stealthy, but there are key indicators security teams should monitor:
- Unusual login activity – Repeated failed login attempts or access from unexpected locations.
- Abnormal use of administrative tools – PowerShell, PsExec, or WMI commands running on unauthorized machines.
- Unauthorized credential usage – Accounts accessing systems they don’t typically use.
- Multiple system accesses within a short timeframe – A single user logging into multiple endpoints rapidly.
Deploying behavioral analytics and anomaly detection helps in identifying these suspicious patterns before an attacker gains complete control.
Preventing Lateral Movement in Networks
To stop lateral movement, organizations must implement strong access controls, segmentation, and real-time monitoring.
1. Enforce Least Privilege Access
- Restrict user access to only necessary systems and data.
- Require just-in-time (JIT) access for privileged accounts to minimize exposure.
2. Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
- Prevent attackers from misusing stolen credentials by requiring an additional verification step for all logins, especially for remote access and admin accounts.
3. Strengthen Network Segmentation
- Use VLANs and firewalls to isolate critical systems from general user workstations.
- Separate high-risk zones, such as OT/SCADA networks, from business operations.
4. Monitor and Restrict Lateral Tools
- Disable unnecessary PowerShell, WMI, and PsExec usage.
- Monitor network share activity and apply strict permissions.
5. Deploy Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
- Identify and automatically block suspicious behavior, such as unauthorized credential usage or privilege escalation attempts.
- Utilize deception techniques like honeypots to detect intruders before they reach critical assets.
6. Regularly Patch and Update Systems
- Close vulnerabilities that attackers exploit by keeping all software and security tools up to date.
- Apply security patches for privilege escalation flaws (e.g., those affecting Active Directory).
How Lateral Movement Works
Lateral movement follows a structured attack pattern:
- Initial Access – Attackers gain entry through phishing, stolen credentials, or unpatched vulnerabilities.
- Internal Reconnaissance – Mapping out the network to locate valuable systems and accounts.
- Credential Theft & Privilege Escalation – Stealing login credentials and increasing user privileges to access restricted areas.
- Persistence & Evasion – Deploying tools to maintain access while avoiding detection.
Final Objective Execution – Exfiltrating sensitive data, deploying ransomware, or disrupting operations.
Lateral movement is one of the most effective strategies attackers use to expand their control within a network after an initial breach. Whether it’s stealing credentials, abusing built-in system tools, or exploiting RDP sessions, attackers rely on organizations overlooking internal security controls.
Stopping lateral movement requires a multi-layered approach: restricting privileges, enforcing strong authentication, segmenting networks, and deploying advanced monitoring tools. By cutting off an attacker’s ability to navigate your systems, you turn an initial breach into a dead end—rather than a gateway to full-scale compromise.
