Securing my home network

[Alferd Packer]

So, as I said in a previous thread, I installed Debian 3.1 on my laptop. I've set up filesharing to my liking and have gotten the wireless to work. Now I want to secure the network.

My router is a Linksys WRT54G, and it does all the work. The two desktops are wired into it, and currently B-spec is the only wireless enabled. There is no encryption enabled (as I understand it, WEP kinda sucks anyway). The router has a MAC filter and whitelist, so that it only allows those MAC addresses on the whitelist to connect to the network. As it stands, the only MAC address on the list right now is that of my laptop's PCMCIA wireless card.

Everything works right now, so I'm almost content to leave things be. I know, however, that anyone in my apartment building with a packet sniffer can pick up my wireless transmissions. I have little reason to be concerned (it's not as if I've broadcasting sensitive material), but I'd like to know what my options are.

In summation, I seek opinions on the following:

Is the router's firewall/WAN blocker, coupled with the MAC wireless filter, enough to keep most people out of my home network, or should I be looking into additional firewalls for my desktops/laptop?

What kind of encryption protocol (if any) should I be using to secure wireless broadcasting? Are there specific things I have to do because I'm running Debian?

And, most importantly: do these pants make my butt look big?

[Faram]

MAC filtering is absolutly useless and only give you a false sense of security!

WEP is much better than MAC filtering! Enable WEP or WPA if the router has it.

[Chmee]

Is the router's firewall/WAN blocker, coupled with the MAC wireless filter, enough to keep most people out of my home network, or should I be looking into additional firewalls for my desktops/laptop?

Enough to keep most people out, but not a minimally qualified hacker.

What kind of encryption protocol (if any) should I be using to secure wireless broadcasting? Are there specific things I have to do because I'm running Debian?

If you really wanted to secure the wireless you'll put everything on 802.11g and use WPA-PSK encryption with TKIP, built into (g).

[Alferd Packer]

Thanks for the advice.

In my neverending quest to do things in the most ass-backward, complicated manner, I nixed debian and put Mandriva 10.2 LE on the laptop. I'm encountering the same difficulty I had with debian, that is: the wireless card works picture perfectly when encryption is disabled. It fails, however, when I try WEP 64 bit, WEP 128 bit, and WPA-PSK with TKIP. This would suggest to me that the problem does not lie in the driver, but rather in the wireless configuration. I am, however, stumped. So, if anyone's familiar with the ins and outs of Mandrake, any pointers would be appreciated and will be awarded with appropriate amounts of porn.