Terminology Index
Glossary
2953 terms
S32
SMB
Server Message Block: a Windows file-sharing and inter-system protocol heavily used legitimately and heavily abused by attackers for lateral movement and remote execution.
SMB is the protocol behind Windows file and printer sharing, and it carries inter-system administrative traffic. Attackers abuse it for lateral movement (accessing shares, copying tools, executing remote commands via mechanisms like PsExec or admin shares) once they have credentials or hashes. Defenders restrict SMB exposure (no SMB to the internet), require modern, signed SMB versions, segment internal SMB use, and detect anomalous SMB behavior, all foundational network-defense practices.
Introduced in: Networking Foundations
Examples
- Legitimate file sharing using SMB inside an organization.
- An attacker using SMB and stolen credentials for lateral movement.
- Restricting SMB exposure to limit attacker abuse.
