strutsng@gmail.com wrote:
> I have Linksys Wireless-G USB Kit with SpeedBooster
> (http://www.pcsforeveryone.com/produc...ucts_id=20704),
> which contains Linksys WRT54GS v2 router

> Does it have WPA support?

Yes it does.


> WPA is the same as PSK?

PSK, in this context, is a mode of operation of WPA. In your case, PSK
is the best choice. (For environments in which there is a geeky system
administrator at hand, I would advise RADIUS, but that requires a whole
lot of other stuff to be set up on the network.)

> It has PSK-RADIUS, and RADIUS, which one is
> better?

Use the one that offers PSK.

> Ok, if someone really hacked my WEP key, then they can get in my
> machine and steal things?

Big question. It doesn't have a simple answer, which is why security
issues are hard. If someone gets passed WEP, it means that they've
gotten on to your network. The analogy that I like to use, is imagine
if you had a wired home network and you ran some wires out from your
house into the neighborhood for any to connect to.

The rest depends on the security of any internal firewall you may have
(say between your wireless and wired internal networks) and the security
of the particular hosts on those networks and the communication between
those hosts.

So it is best to secure each machine on the network as best as possible
on its own. Keep in mind that someone who gets onto your private
network can sniff all the network traffic, so you don't want sensitive
information (particularly) passwords traveling around your network
unencrypted. If you have highly sensitive information, you should
consider keeping that encrypted even on the disk. With Linux you can
set up entire encrypted filesystems. (But if you forget the pass
phrase, you're data is truly unrecoverable.)

I'm sorry that there isn't a simple answer. For some purposes it is
"good enough" to be better secured then your neighbors. There is the
old joke of two men camping, and a bear starts threatening them at their
campsite. One man starts to put on running shoes. The other says,
"What are you doing? You can't out-run a bear." The first answers with,
"I don't need to out-run the bear, I just need to out-run you."

On the whole, this "good enough" is a bad approach. But nearly
everything needs to be evaluated on a case by case basis. If you wish
to publicly be more specific about your concerns, it will be much easier
to give specific advice.

-j