What is network lateral movement?
Network lateral movement is a form of attack used by cyber criminals to infiltrate different parts of a computer network. Attackers who have gained privileged access via phishing or other means can traverse the network in search of additional targets to compromise, using techniques such as credential harvesting and forced translation attacks. By using legitimate user accounts and devices, these malicious actors can go undetected as they move around the network.
Why protect against network lateral movement?
Protecting against lateral movement is an essential part of maintaining a secure network landscape. Since these attackers traverse undetected, it is possible for them to gain access to sensitive data and critical applications and carry out malicious activities such as data exfiltration or application tampering. As an organisation’s network expands, so too does it’s attack surface and in turn, it's vulnerability to network lateral movement. Therefore, it is critical that organisations properly protect their networks from lateral movement in order to keep their most valuable data secure.
How can you protect against network lateral movement?
Network segmentation is a crucial preventative measure to enable when looking to protect networks and systems. This ringfences certain parts of your network so that attackers cannot access different parts of the infrastructure if they manage to breach an initial perimeter. Alongside sophisticated access control policies that limit user privileges to the level of access that is most appropriate for their account, this solution reduces the attack surface should a legitimate account be compromised. It’s also best practice to use rigorous patching and vulnerability management practices and keep an updated device inventory to strengthen an organisation’s security posture.
How can COOLSPIRiT help?
We’ve partnered with Illumio to deliver industry-leading, zero-trust microsegmentation – allowing users to restrict attacker lateral movement and reduce the attack surface by creating micro-perimeters around key assets. With such a high level of granular control, you can control sensitive communications at the application and workload level, while allowing you to identify and easily block pathways of attack into your digital operations. Contact us today to learn more: call 01246 454 222 or email hello@coolspirit.co.uk.
