Page 28 - Cyber Defense eMagazine for September 2020

There’s a Hole in Your Threat Detection Strategy—It’s

Called East/West Traffic

By Carolyn Crandall, Chief Deception Officer, Attivo Networks

One of the most popular targets for attackers, cybercriminals, and other bad actors is east/west network
traffic. This is network traffic that originates from one internal host or network segment, and whose
destination is another internal host or network segment.

North/south traffic, on the other hand, moves from an internal network out to the Internet. North/south is
where organizations have historically invested, and includes security controls such as firewalls, intrusion
detection/prevention systems, and proxies.

Ensuring good threat detection for east/west—or lateral—traffic has never been more important for
organizations. The ability to move undetected through the network is key for successful ransomware
attacks, and detecting that movement is increasingly critical as damaging and sophisticated ransomware
becomes more pervasive.

Cyber Defense eMagazine – September 2020 Edition 28
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