Internal Servers (noob post)

[pma111 <pmaneedham () hotmail com>]

I wonder if you could give me some pointers on ways you pen testers would try
to penetrate / or gain access to an organisations internal server “farm”. I
have read numerous hardening guides for both UNIX and Windows Servers, which
we use for our host based Systems, but our IT dept insist perimeter defences
(firewall etc) are sufficient to protect the internal servers so there is no
need to invest heavily or put resources into hardening internal servers. Is
this statement valid or would hardening internal servers also give pen
testers a hard time gaining access to data, backups or host based apps
residing on internal servers?

What I am really after (I am no pen tester but am intreged by what
techniques you guys use) is to get into the mindset of the ways you guys
would try and gain access to our internal servers and data? If I make some
assumptions, could someone with experience (be it white hat, black hat, grey
hat) give me some pointers as to whether my assumptions are correct?

To attack (bring down, steal confidential data etc) one of our internal
servers would you always try to penetrate the firewall or find some
vulnerability in the firewall in order to get remote access into our
internal servers?

Once through the firewall what methods would you guys use to gain access to
the server? Would you try default accounts that you know exist (I noticed
the vast majority of hardening guides always say disable or remove
unnecessary default UNIX / Windows accounts etc)?

Is hardening an internal server much protection if somebody has broken
through the Firewall or is easy practice to still get data off internal
servers?

Any pointers most welcome.

Regards,


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