A Deep Dive into Lateral Movement in Modern Cybersecurity

Once an attacker gets past your firewall, what’s their next move?

By 2025, the initial breach is just the beginning of the attack. Adversaries now spend the vast majority of their time inside a network, moving from system to system. This phase, known as lateral movement, isn’t a random search. It is a quiet and deliberate journey toward an organization’s most valuable assets. This methodical approach proves why focusing only on perimeter defense is no longer sufficient, shifting the priority to strong internal security controls.

1. What is Lateral Movement in Cybersecurity?

Lateral movement is what hackers do after they first break into a computer network. Instead of just attacking one machine, they use it as a starting point to explore the rest of the network. Think of it as a journey, not a single event.

Once inside, attackers look for other connected computers, servers, and devices they can access. . This “sideways” movement is a core part of modern cyberattacks. In fact, attackers spend about 80% of their total attack time in this phase, quietly moving around a network.

The Goal: Finding the “Crown Jewels”

The main reason for lateral movement is to find a company’s most valuable information, often called the “crown jewels.” These are the critical assets the hacker is really after.

Examples of crown jewels include:

• Secret product designs or company plans
• Customer lists and personal data
• Financial records and bank account access

Different attacks use lateral movement for different reasons. A ransomware attacker will try to spread to as many computers as possible to maximize their payday. A spy, on the other hand, will move slowly and quietly to steal information over a long time without being noticed.

The Big Problem: Long “Dwell Time”

For security teams, the biggest worry with lateral movement is “dwell time.” This is the period between when a hacker first gets in and when they are finally discovered. 

The average dwell time is currently around 95 days.

This long delay gives an attacker plenty of time to explore the network and set up multiple backdoors. Even if the original infected computer is found and cleaned, the attacker may have already moved to dozens of other systems. This makes it incredibly difficult to remove them completely.

Because of this, cybersecurity strategy has changed. It’s no longer enough to just build a strong wall around the network. Companies must now assume a breach can happen and focus on monitoring activity inside their network to spot and stop lateral movement early.

Of course. Here is that information rewritten in a clear, direct style for a modern tech blog.

2. Why Hackers Still Use Lateral Movement in 2025

In 2025, hackers don’t just break down the digital front door; they sneak in through one window and then quietly explore the whole house. This exploration phase is called lateral movement, and it has become the standard playbook for serious cyberattacks. It’s not a new trick, but it’s more important than ever.

Here’s why hackers rely on this method.

To Find the Most Valuable Data

The main goal of any major hack is to get to the “crown jewels”—a company’s most important data. This could be anything from secret product designs and customer credit card numbers to private financial records.

Hackers use lateral movement to map out a company’s network and pinpoint where this valuable information is stored. They aren’t just breaking in; they’re on a mission to find the most profitable target.

To Bypass Strong Security

Companies have gotten very good at building strong digital walls (firewalls) to keep hackers out. So, instead of trying to knock down the wall, attackers have changed their strategy. They now focus on finding just one weak spot—like a single stolen password—to get inside.

Once they’re in, they can move around freely because internal security is often not as strong as the outside wall. This is a core tactic in today’s most serious cyberattacks. A 2024 analysis found that 45% of all intrusions involved lateral movement.

To Stay Hidden for a Long Time

The most dangerous part of lateral movement is that it’s slow and quiet. Hackers want to remain undetected for as long as possible. This “dwell time” inside a network gives them plenty of time to explore and plan their final move.

• Hackers spend up to 80% of their attack time in this lateral movement phase.
• The average time to even detect a hacker inside a network is 95 days. ⏳

They stay hidden by “Living Off the Land” (LotL), which means they use a company’s own, legitimate IT tools (like PowerShell) to move around. To security software, they look just like a normal employee doing their job.

To Create a Permanent Backdoor

Finally, hackers use lateral movement to set up multiple secret entry points. This is called establishing persistence. 

Even if a security team finds and cleans the first computer that was infected, the hacker has already created other backdoors to get back in. This makes it incredibly difficult to kick them out for good.

3. Anatomy of the Attack Chain

A lateral movement attack isn’t a single event. It’s a process that happens in a series of steps, much like links in a chain. Each step gets the attacker closer to their final goal. Here’s how it usually works.

Step 1: Getting a Foothold

Every attack needs a starting point. This is called the initial foothold. Think of it like a burglar finding one unlocked window to get into a large building. 

Hackers get this first entry point in a few common ways:

• Phishing: Tricking an employee into clicking a bad link or opening a malicious email attachment.
• Weak Software: Finding a known security hole in a company’s software that hasn’t been fixed yet.

Once they’re in, they might install malware or use a stolen password to secure their position and prepare for the next step.

Step 2: Exploring the Network

Once inside, the hacker’s next job is to look around and learn the layout of the network. This is called internal reconnaissance. Their goal is to draw a map of the digital environment to find where the valuable data is stored and how to get there. 

A very sneaky and common tactic they use is called “Living Off the Land” (LotL). This means the hacker uses the company’s own, legitimate IT tools (like PowerShell) to explore the network. To the company’s security software, the hacker’s activity looks just like a normal IT employee doing their job. This makes them almost invisible.

Step 3: Gaining More Power

A hacker usually gets in with a regular user’s account, which doesn’t have much power. To get to the important data, they need more access. This step is called privilege escalation.

Think of it like the hacker giving themselves a promotion from a regular employee to a system administrator. They can do this by stealing the passwords of powerful users or by exploiting a bug in the system. Once they have an admin’s password, they have the keys to the kingdom and can move almost anywhere they want.

Step 4: Staying in Control

After all that work, the hacker wants to make sure they don’t get kicked out. The final step is to create a persistent presence. This means they set up secret backdoors to ensure they can get back into the network whenever they want. 

It’s like hiding a spare key under the doormat. Even if their original entry point is discovered and closed, they can still let themselves back in. This allows them to stay inside a network for weeks or months, often completely unnoticed.

4. Attacker Tactics and Tools

To move around inside a network, hackers use a specific set of tools and techniques. The cleverest of these are often normal IT admin tools used for a bad purpose. This makes the hacker’s activity look like regular network traffic, helping them stay hidden.

Stealing and Reusing Passwords

Getting valid login details is the easiest way for a hacker to explore a network. It’s like having a stolen keycard to an office building. 

• Credential Theft with Mimikatz: A popular tool for this is called Mimikatz. It’s a program that can pull passwords, PINs, and other login information directly from a computer’s memory. It finds credentials that the computer is temporarily holding for normal use and steals them for the attack.
• Pass-the-Hash Attacks: Hackers don’t always need your actual password. They can steal the password hash, which is a scrambled, encrypted version of the password. With a technique called “Pass-the-Hash,” they can use this scrambled version to log into other connected systems as if they had the real password.
• Password Spraying: Instead of trying many passwords on one user (which would trigger an alarm), password spraying is the opposite. A hacker tries one or two very common passwords (like “Winter2025”) against hundreds of different user accounts at once. Eventually, they find someone who used that simple password.

Using Normal IT Tools to Attack

The most skilled hackers use tools that are already on a company’s network. This is called “Living Off the Land” (LotL) because they use the system’s own resources to carry out their attack. This helps them blend in.

• Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP): RDP is a standard tool that lets IT staff access computers remotely. Hackers can abuse this to jump from one compromised computer to another. To security monitoring systems, a hacker using RDP looks exactly like a legitimate IT admin working.
• PsExec and WMI: These are powerful command-line tools used to manage computers on a network. A hacker who gains control of one machine can use PsExec or WMI to run malicious commands or spread malware to other machines.

Mapping the Network with BloodHound

Before making a move, smart hackers plan their route. For networks that use Windows, a powerful tool called BloodHound helps them do this.

Active Directory (AD) is the system that manages all users and computers in a Windows network—it’s like the network’s brain. BloodHound analyzes the AD and creates a visual map of all the relationships between users, computers, and permissions. .

This map shows the hacker the fastest and easiest paths to get from a regular user account to a powerful administrator account. It reveals hidden connections that let them quickly escalate their privileges and take control of the network.

Table 1: Key Lateral Movement Techniques and Tools

5. Real-World Case Studies

Looking at major cyberattacks shows how lateral movement works in the real world. These examples reveal a common pattern: hackers often get in by turning a company’s most trusted tools against them.

The Colonial Pipeline Attack

The 2021 attack on the Colonial Pipeline is a powerful example of how lateral movement can cause massive disruption. 

The DarkSide hacker group started the attack with just one stolen password for the company’s Virtual Private Network (VPN). A VPN is a tool that employees are supposed to trust for secure remote work. Once the hackers were logged in, they moved laterally through the network until they reached the company’s billing system.

From there, they launched a ransomware attack. This forced Colonial Pipeline to shut down its entire operation, leading to major fuel shortages across the U.S. East Coast. . The attack proves that even a secure, trusted tool like a VPN can become the front door for a devastating attack.

A Financial Company Breach

In another case, a security team showed how they could break into a financial company to test its defenses.

They started by cracking a single employee’s password. That one password let them into the employee’s cloud storage, where they found more passwords saved in plain text files. Using these new, more powerful credentials, the team moved deeper into the network. They were able to steal the company’s valuable software source code and remained hidden for several weeks. This shows how just one person’s compromised account can give an attacker the keys to the entire kingdom.

Lessons from Recent Attacks

Attacks in 2023 and 2024 show that hackers are still using these same successful tactics.

• MOVEit and LockBit: Ransomware groups in these attacks used a combination of software bugs and stolen passwords to get in. Once inside, they relied on well-known tools like Mimikatz and PsExec to spread across the network.
• The 3CX Attack: This was a clever supply chain attack. Think of it like a trusted food supplier accidentally sending contaminated ingredients to thousands of restaurants. Hackers hid malware inside a legitimate software update from 3CX, a popular business software provider. When thousands of companies installed the “safe” update, they were actually installing the hackers’ malware. This gave the attackers an instant backdoor into all of those companies at once.

6. Offensive Services: Mimicking the Adversary

To stop hackers, you have to think like one. The best way for companies to protect themselves against lateral movement is to test their own security by faking a cyberattack. This helps them find and fix weak spots before real attackers can exploit them.

Pen Testing vs. Red Teaming

Companies use two main types of simulated attacks to test their security.

Think of it like testing a bank’s defenses. 

• Penetration Testing (Pen Testing): This is like hiring a professional to check all the locks on the bank’s doors and windows. The “pen tester” looks for known security holes, tries to get in, and then gives the bank a report on which locks need to be fixed.
• Red Teaming: This is a much bigger test. It’s like hiring a team to simulate a full-blown bank robbery. The “red team” will try to get past the locks, trick the guards, and avoid the cameras. This tests not just the technology but also how the company’s security team responds to a real crisis.

These tests give companies a clear picture of how well their security works and a plan to improve it.

Using the Hacker’s Own Tools

To make these security drills as realistic as possible, the good guys often use the same tools as the bad guys. This is the best way to see if a company’s defenses can spot and stop a real attack.

For example, a red team will use tools like:

• Mimikatz to try and steal passwords.
• PsExec to move between computers.
• BloodHound to map out the network and find attack paths.

Using these tools shows exactly how a real attacker would operate inside the network.

Testing the Internet of Things (IoT) with PENIOT

The number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices—like smart cameras, speakers, and thermostats—has exploded. . Many of these devices are rushed to market with very little security, creating a huge new target for hackers.

PENIOT is a special, open-source tool built to find security flaws in these IoT devices.

• What it does: PENIOT automatically tests the security of IoT devices by launching attacks against their communication methods, like Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and MQTT. It looks for weaknesses using attacks like Denial-of-Service (DoS) and Sniffing.
• Why it’s important: There are too many IoT devices for security teams to test manually. PENIOT automates this slow process, allowing companies to find and fix security flaws before their products hit the market.
• Built for the future: PENIOT was designed to be extensible. This means security testers can easily add new attacks or update it to test new types of IoT devices as they are invented. This is critical in the fast-changing world of IoT.

7. Defensive Strategies: Building a Resilient Network

The best way to defend against lateral movement is to change your mindset. Instead of only building a strong wall around your network, you have to assume a hacker will eventually get in. This is called the “assume breach” mindset. The goal is to stop them from moving around after they’re inside.

Start with the Basics

The strongest defenses are built on a solid foundation of security habits.

• The Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP): This is a simple but powerful rule: only give employees and systems access to the exact information they need to do their job, and nothing more. Think of it like a hotel keycard. A guest’s card only opens their room and the gym, not every room in the building. This way, if a hacker steals a regular user’s account, their access is very limited.
• Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): This is a must-have for all critical accounts in 2025. MFA requires more than just a password to log in; you also need a second piece of proof, like a code sent to your phone. Even if a hacker steals a password, they can’t get in because they don’t have the second factor.

Build a Smarter Network

The way your network is designed can be a powerful defense.

• Network Segmentation: This means dividing your large network into smaller, isolated zones. It’s like putting fire doors in a building. If a fire starts in one area, the doors close and keep it from spreading. . Segmentation does the same for a cyberattack, trapping the hacker in one small part of the network.
• The Zero Trust Model: Zero Trust is a modern security philosophy with one main rule: never trust, always verify. It gets rid of the old idea of a “trusted” internal network. Instead, it treats every user and device as a potential threat, even if they are already inside. It’s like being in a high-security building where you have to scan your ID badge at every single door, not just the front entrance. This makes it incredibly difficult for a hacker to move around.

Watch Everything, All the Time

You can’t stop what you can’t see. Continuous monitoring is key to catching lateral movement early.

• Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR): Think of EDR tools as security guards for every laptop and server. They constantly watch for suspicious activity and can automatically stop an attack as it happens.
• User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA): These tools are like smart detectives. They use AI to learn what “normal” activity looks like for every user. If an employee who only works 9-to-5 suddenly starts accessing strange files at 3 AM, the UEBA system will flag it as a threat. This is especially good for catching hackers who are “Living Off the Land” using normal IT tools.

Table 2: Mitigation Strategies and Their Impact on the Attack Chain

8. Conclusion & Actionable Recommendations

Protecting your network’s border is no longer enough. The biggest threat today is lateral movement—when attackers get inside and move around freely. This is the most dangerous phase of an attack because it uses your own trusted tools against you.

A modern defense requires a new strategy focused on internal security.

• Limit Access: Give employees access only to the systems they need for their job.
• Watch Internal Traffic: Monitor your network for unusual activity, not just at the border.
• Divide Your Network: Segment your systems to contain a breach and stop an attacker’s movement.
• Test Your Defenses: Use simulated attacks to find weaknesses before real attackers do.

This proactive approach turns your network into a much harder target. Is your security plan focused only on the outside? It is time to strengthen your defenses from within.