Networks & Defense
Lateral Movement
Also: sideways movement, network pivoting
An attacker moving from the first machine they reach to others on the same network.
In more detail
The first machine is rarely the goal. The attacker uses credentials, keys and tokens found on it, reused passwords, and normal remote tools such as SSH or file sharing to reach more valuable systems. Because those tools are legitimate, it often looks like ordinary activity. Unique credentials, least privilege, segmentation and monitoring of internal connections all make it harder.