A developer’s workstation gets compromised through phishing. Within hours, the attacker has moved through four internal systems via lateral movement and is staging data on a backup server.
The initial access was low-privilege. But the damage was not.
That gap between where attackers land and where they end up, is where lateral movement happens. And most organizations have no visibility into it.
Key Takeaways
- Lateral movement in cybersecurity occurs when attackers use stolen credentials to access additional systems without raising alarms.
- Attackers map environments, harvest credentials, and then access other systems, often expanding to high-value targets like databases and domain controllers.
- Preventing lateral movement involves enforcing least privilege access, multi-factor authentication, and implementing network segmentation.
- Detecting lateral movement requires internal monitoring through behavioral analytics, anomaly detection, and east-west traffic visibility.
- Solutions like privileged access management can help control and monitor credentials effectively, reducing the risk of lateral movement.
Table of contents
What Is Lateral Movement in Cybersecurity?
Lateral movement is when an attacker uses stolen credentials, exploited trust relationships, or built-in system tools to access additional systems after gaining initial entry.
It is not about breaking in again. It is about blending in, using legitimate accounts and protocols that security tools rarely flag.
This is fundamentally an identity problem. Attackers do not need exotic exploits. They need valid credentials and enough time. This is where privileged access management becomes critical, as it helps control, monitor, and restrict how privileged credentials are used across the environment.
How Lateral Movement Works (Step-by-Step)
1. Reconnaissance
Attackers map the environment before moving anywhere:
- Running built-in commands to list users, groups, and privileges
- Using tools like BloodHound to enumerate Active Directory attack paths
- Identifying accessible services, shares, and remote management interfaces
2. Credential and Privilege Harvesting
- Dumping NTLM hashes from memory using tools like Mimikatz
- Kerberoasting service accounts to crack tickets offline
- Searching scripts and config files for hardcoded credentials
Overprivileged accounts make this phase fast. If a developer has local admin rights, an attacker who compromises that machine immediately has credentials that work across multiple systems.
3. Accessing Other Systems
Attackers authenticate using the same protocols admins use daily:
- RDP for interactive sessions
- WMI and PowerShell for remote command execution
- PsExec for service-based lateral movement
An RDP session from a valid admin account to a file server looks legitimate. Without behavioral context, most tools stay silent.
4. Expansion to High-Value Targets
- Domain controllers
- Database servers
- Backup infrastructure
- CI/CD pipelines with environment secrets
By this stage, the original entry point is irrelevant. The attacker has what they came for.
Common Lateral Movement Techniques
There are some common lateral movement techniques used by attackers; let’s understand what they are:
Credential-Based:
- Pass-the-Hash (PtH) — reusing NTLM hashes to authenticate without knowing the plaintext password
- Pass-the-Ticket (PtT) — extracting and replaying Kerberos tickets for service access
Living-off-the-Land (LOTL):
- PowerShell, WMI, PsExec, RDP — all built-in, all legitimate, none flagged by signature-based detection
Internal Phishing:
- Compromised accounts used to target colleagues with convincing internal emails
Cross-Platform:
- SSH agent hijacking on Linux and macOS — often missed by Windows-focused detection teams
How to Detect Lateral Movement
Perimeter monitoring will not catch this. Detection requires looking inward:
- Behavioral analytics (UEBA): flag accounts authenticating to systems they have never accessed before
- Abnormal login patterns: unusual hours, high authentication volume, dormant accounts suddenly active
- East-west traffic monitoring: most organizations have almost no visibility into internal network traffic
- EDR/XDR correlation: endpoint telemetry combined with identity and network data improves accuracy significantly
- Anomaly detection: flag access events outside provisioned roles and policies
How to Prevent Lateral Movement
Preventing lateral movement requires a combination of identity, access, and network controls that limit how far an attacker can move within an environment.
1. Enforce Least Privilege Access
Remove standing admin rights. If a compromised account can only reach two systems, that is all an attacker can reach. This can be achieved by giving time based access using solutions like miniOrange JIT.
2. Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
ImplementingMFA solution stops interactive credential abuse. It does not stop Pass-the-Hash or Pass-the-Ticket. It is necessary, not sufficient.
3. Network Segmentation
Restrict which systems can communicate with each other. Start with crown jewel assets, databases, domain controllers, backup servers, and segment outward.
4. Zero Trust Architecture
Verify every access request against identity, device posture, and context. Grant access to the specific resource requested, not the broader network.
5. Identity Governance (IGA) Controls
- Access reviews: regularly confirm who needs what
- Role-based access policies: define access by job function, not individual request
- Just-in-time access: grant elevated privileges for specific tasks, revoke automatically when done
6. Use a Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution
A single Privileged Access Management Solution, like miniOrange PAM, is enough to enforce least privilege, implement MFA, support Zero Trust architecture, and enable identity-based control. Its major features include:
- Just-in-time access management: This eliminates standing admin privileges by granting only time-based administrative access.
- Credential vaulting and rotation: All privileged credentials are stored in a secure password vault. Passwords are rotated after every use to make them invalid for the next user in case of a breach.
- Session monitoring and recording: PAM ensures that every privileged session is recorded and monitored in real time for any suspicious or vulnerable commands.
In summary, limiting lateral movement is about reducing trust and tightening control at every level. By combining these strategies, organizations can significantly contain potential breaches and prevent attackers from gaining deeper access to critical systems.
Final Thoughts
Lateral movement is what turns a minor incident into a major breach. Attackers use accounts that already exist, tools that are already installed, and trust relationships that are already in place.
Stopping it requires treating identity as the primary control plane, enforcing least privilege, monitoring behavioral anomalies, and eliminating the standing privileges that make credential theft so valuable.
Modern identity-focused security solutions enable just-in-time access, session monitoring, and continuous governance across hybrid environments—strengthening protection without disrupting existing workflows.
Start with three honest questions:
- Who actually has admin access in your infrastructure right now?
- When were those privileges last reviewed?
- Could you audit every privileged action taken yesterday?
If any answer is unclear, that is where the work begins.
What Security Teams Should Do Next
Security engineers play a critical role here, translating policy into enforcement by identifying gaps in access control, monitoring systems, and privilege management.
- Audit all accounts with local admin and domain admin rights
- Remove standing privileges and replace with just-in-time access
- Enable session monitoring for privileged accounts
- Review east-west traffic visibility
- Implement behavioral baselines to catch abnormal authentication
- Conduct access reviews to remove unnecessary permissions
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an example of lateral movement?
An attacker compromises a developer’s workstation, extracts NTLM hashes, and uses Pass-the-Hash to authenticate to a production server via RDP — all using valid credentials that trigger no alerts.
What is the difference between lateral and vertical movement?
Lateral movement spreads across systems at similar privilege levels. Vertical movement (privilege escalation) increases access within a system, such as moving from a standard user to a domain admin. Attackers use both together.
Can EDR detect lateral movement?
EDR can catch suspicious process behavior and known attack tool usage. But it has limited visibility into authentication events. Combining EDR with identity analytics and network monitoring significantly improves coverage.
How do you prevent lateral movement?
MFA, least privilege access, network segmentation, and identity governance — layered together. No single control is enough.
What are the most common lateral movement techniques?
Pass-the-Hash, Pass-the-Ticket, Kerberoasting, RDP abuse, WMI-based execution, PowerShell remoting, PsExec, and SSH agent hijacking on Linux systems.
