Terminology Index

Glossary

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Remote Services

Internet-reachable services that enable remote access (SSH, RDP, VPN, remote-management interfaces). Attackers target them heavily for initial access and lateral movement, so they require special hardening.

Remote services are the ways people and tools reach systems from afar: SSH, RDP, VPN gateways, remote-management consoles. They are necessary and attractive targets, exposed remote services are a primary initial-access vector through brute force, credential theft, or exploitation, and they are common lateral-movement paths once inside. Defending them means restricting exposure, requiring MFA, monitoring for abuse, and detecting anomalies, especially given how often credential-based attacks abuse them.

Introduced in: Threat Landscape and Attacker Thinking

Examples

  • Brute-force attacks against an exposed SSH or RDP service.
  • Attackers using a VPN account with stolen credentials for initial access.
  • Restricting and monitoring remote services to limit abuse.