Security teams within enterprises face a consistent and ominous threat: once attackers find a way past an organization’s defenses and gain access to their network, how do cybersecurity teams stop them from moving sideways and reaching critical assets? Lateral movement—the technique that attackers use to jump from system to system within a network—remains one of the most challenging security problems to solve at scale.

Why Lateral Movement Matters

An enterprise might have hundreds, if not thousands, of endpoints. Then, there are all of the servers and numerous identity systems. Each connection between these systems opens up a potential pathway for attackers to move between.

That’s why the traditional perimeter-based security model simply doesn't hold up against today's modern threats. Once attackers breach an organization’s outer defenses, they can often move relatively freely throughout the environment - and that thought alone should be enough to send shivers down the spine of any IT professional.

This freedom of movement gives attackers the dwell time they need to establish persistence, escalate privileges, and ultimately reach crown jewel assets. The longer they remain undetected, the more damage they will likely cause.

Adopting Zero Trust Principles

Zero Trust security is one of the most powerful frameworks we have for disrupting lateral movement. Unlike more traditional network security models that trust everything inside the perimeter, Zero Trust treats every access request as potentially hostile, regardless of where it originates.

To implement Zero Trust effectively so that it prevents lateral movement:

Verify Every Access Requests—It’s important to make strong authentication mandatory for all users, devices, and services before allowing system connections. This means that if an attacker compromises one system, they won't automatically gain access to others.

Apply Least Privilege Access—It’s a good idea to allow users and systems access only to what they absolutely need, nothing more. This drastically limits an attacker's reach, even if they successfully compromise credentials.

Implement Micro-Perimeters—Create security boundaries around individual resources rather than just at an organization’s network edge - especially for critical assets. This means attackers need to break through multiple barriers to move laterally, slowing their progress.

Enable Continuous Monitoring—Watch out for any unusual access patterns that might show signs of lateral movement attempts. It’s easiest to spot attackers as they try to hop between systems.

Network Segmentation That Works

Network segmentation is by no means a new concept, yet many organizations struggle to implement it effectively at scale. Most modern approaches focus on micro-segmentation—creating granular security zones around individual workloads. Instead of trying to segment an entire network at once, consider a risk-based approach:

1. Identify the most critical assets and segment them first.

2. Create clear boundaries around databases containing sensitive information, financial systems, and intellectual property.

3. Then expand a segmentation strategy outward based on risk profiles.

Identity-Based Controls

Most lateral movement techniques rely on credential theft or misuse. Strong identity controls can be implemented as a potential mitigation strategy. This will cut off these attack paths:

• Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) for administrative access across an environment.
• Just-in-time access provisioning reduces the window during which compromised credentials can be used.
• Closely monitor privilege escalation and implement automated alerts for suspicious identity behavior.

Detection and Response

Even with all the preventative controls in place, that still does not guarantee an organization will be able to thwart all attacks. Organizations need  effective detection capabilities. Focus on monitoring efforts on the techniques attackers actually use for lateral movement:

• Look for unusual authentication patterns, especially across multiple systems.
• Monitor for credential dumping tools and techniques. Implement behavior-based analytics that can spot anomalous lateral connections.

The key here is speed. Reducing the time between detection and response is vital, as this limits how far an attacker can move throughout your environment.

The main takeaway is that disrupting lateral movement isn't about building perfect defenses. Making movement as difficult as possible for attackers once they get past perimeter defenses. The goal is to either get them to give up or make enough noise to trigger the detection systems.