Lateral Movement
Definition
Lateral movement is an attack technique where an attacker, after gaining initial access to a system, spreads through the network to compromise additional systems and escalate privileges.
After initial infection, the attacker begins reconnaissance: which systems are reachable, which credentials are available, where is valuable data? The attacker then moves laterally to other systems.
Examples of lateral movement techniques: Pass the Hash, Pass the Ticket, remote services (RDP, SMB), compromised service accounts.