TKIP

TKIP, or Temporal Key Integrity Protocol, is a security protocol used to secure wireless networks. It was introduced with WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) as part of the 802.11i standard to address the weaknesses of WEP while preserving compatibility with older hardware that could only process RC4 encryption.

TKIP works by generating a unique per-packet encryption key derived from a shared Temporal Key (TK) and additional packet-specific values such as the IV and the communicating devices' addresses. This per-packet key is used with RC4 to encrypt the payload. To protect against tampering, TKIP includes a Michael message integrity code (MIC) and implements replay protection via a sequence counter. The result is improved security over WEP without requiring new hardware for many devices.

Security considerations have evolved since TKIP’s introduction. While it mitigates several WEP weaknesses and remains more secure than WEP, TKIP is weaker than the AES-based CCMP protocol used in WPA2 and newer standards. Over time, practical attacks against TKIP have been demonstrated, including weaknesses in the Michael MIC and key management under certain conditions, leading to a consensus that TKIP is deprecated for new networks. Modern deployments favor CCMP (AES) for stronger cryptographic guarantees.

Deployment and status: TKIP was widely used in early WPA deployments and in mixed-mode WPA2 networks to maintain compatibility with older clients. As WPA2 and WPA3 became prevalent, many networks have disabled TKIP in favor of CCMP (AES), though some devices still support TKIP for backward compatibility in legacy environments.