Temporal Key Integrity Protocol. The wireless security encryption mechanism in Wi-Fi Protected Access. TKIP uses a key hierarchy and key management methodology that removes the predictability that intruders relied upon to exploit the WEP key. It increases the size of the key from 40 to 128 bits and replaces WEP's single static key with keys that are dynamically generated and distributed by an authentication server, providing some 500 trillion possible keys that can be used on a given data packet. It also includes a Message Integrity Check (MIC), designed to prevent an attacker from capturing data packets, altering them and resending them. By greatly expanding the size of keys, the number of keys in use, and by creating an integrity checking mechanism, TKIP magnifies the complexity and difficulty involved in decoding data on a Wi-Fi network. TKIP greatly increases the strength and complexity of wireless encryption, making it far more difficult-if not impossible-for a would-be intruder to break into a Wi-Fi network. (See AES, WPA, WPA2).