Network Security?

I have installed a wireless network in my small business. I have an XP
machine and a 98SE machine. I was wondering about security. I have read
several different thoughts about security and so I decided to post to
AutoCAD because this seems to be the best place for answers. My question
is - How would a third party firewall operation, such as Zone Alarm, compare
to the WEP security system built in the wireless system itself? Also to
consider is the new Service Pack 2 for XP being released by MS and its role
in security. My security concerns are this - no network intrusion from the
outside or through the internet (virus or hacking). I currently have
updated antivirus software installed on each machine, operating systems are
fully updated (with the exception of Service Pack 2 on the XP machine) and
have the free Zone Alarm version on each machine that I have been testing
and also have the firewall option checked in the properties of the
appropriate connection to the internet on the XP machine The configuration
of the network is that the XP machine will be the server holding all user
files for AutoCAD as well as the computer that will be connected to the
internet and the 98 machine will access the internet through the XP internet
connection sharing. I have no access point or router on the network at this
time. The configuration is Ad-Hoc peer to peer. My thoughts are leaning
toward not using the WEP security system and manage security as described
above, is this wise? Any and all thoughts and enlightment would be
greatly appreciated.

Kerry Fontenot
Builders Drafting

 

Personally, I would STILL use at least WEP. Otherwise, what would you do -
leave it open access, to be controlled by the firewall? 'Sounds dangerous to
me. I realize firewalls can control some of these things, but at the very
least you should have WEP enabled, if not something stronger...

John

 

Kerry
First, get an access point. Next, configure the access point to allow
connections only to known and listed network adapters. Next congigure your
adapters to talk only to known and secured access points and configure WEP
on your AP and workstations. The above steps does a pretty good job of
securing the wireless LAN portion of of your connectivity. It does nothing
for the exposure through your internet connection which is why you need
firewalls, antivirus software, etc. Also consider upgrading the Win 98 OS
to a more secure OS.
While it is a good idea to get opinions on forums like this to help you
evaluate diffrent solutions, consider investing in professional help for the
actual implementation.

 

Thank you both John and Jerry for the responses.