Wireless router security help and advise

[Sonny]

A friend gave me his Linksys WRT160N v3. I've already flash it with the DD-WRT v24-sp2 (11/25/09) mini firmware. There's a noticeable improvement over my Linksys WRT54GS with the Thibor firmware.

The WRT160N v3 has WPA (Personal or Enterprise), WPA2 (Personal or Enterprise), WPA2 (Personal Mixed or Enterprise Mixed), Raduis, and WEP. It offers TKIP, AES, and TKIP+AES for encryption types.

On with my questions and info. Can you recommend what would be the best security type and best encryption type for all the devices listed below?


Wife's PC - Will be buying a new USB network adapter.

Kid's PC - Linksys WUSB54GC
Available security types: WPA, WPA2, WPA (PSK), WPA2 (PSK)

My Laptop - Intel 3945ABG
Available security types: WPA (Personal or Enterprise), WPA2 (Personal or Enterprise)

My iPhone - do not know what security types are available.

Our Wii - do not know what security types are available.

[dryicerx]

WAP2 Personal + AES

(It seems all your devices support WPA2 AES, but if they don't, then you can use the AES+TKIP mode for backwards compatibility)

And when setting a key, use a long key to stop people from trying to brute force the key. Something like two memorable phone numbers concatenated (20 total digits) plus easy to remember.

[Sonny]

Thanks Janitha. After a little more research, I did confirm that both the iPhone & Wii support WPA2.

[Kalrog]

I concur - you want WPA2 Personal (PSK = Personal... 2 names for the same thing). And AES is better than TKIP, but neither is really bad.

Then if you really want to be secure, you can add MAC address filtering and not broadcast your SSID. Although those last 2 aren't as important as the encryption (WPA2).

[tropicpine]

I install and maintain networks for a good part of my living.
I NEVER make any financial transactions across any wireless ethernet connection.

[Sonny]

All is good! Bought a USB network adapter for the wife's PC, installed it and she's connected.

Although, it didn't go that easy. My wife's PC and the kid's PC would not connect to the network using WPA2 Personal & AES. I changed the router's security settings to WPA Personal & AES plus MAC filtering and booo-yah! The only thing I haven't tested is the Wii, everything else connect fine.

Thanks for the help.