A new study of over a half-million malware samples collected from various sources in 2022 revealed that attackers put a high value on lateral movement, incorporating more techniques that would allow them to spread through corporate networks. Several of the most prevalent tactics, as defined by the MITRE ATT&CK framework, that were identified in the dataset aid lateral movement, including three new ones that rose into the top 10.
“An increase in the prevalence of techniques being performed to conduct lateral movement highlights the importance of enhancing threat prevention and detection both at the security perimeter as well as inside networks,” researchers from cybersecurity firm Picus, said in their report.