MIC
Message Integrity Check
(or Code), also called ‘Michael‘, is part of
WPA and
TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol). The MIC is an additional 8-byte code inserted before
the standard 4-byte
ICV (Integrity Check Value) appended in by standard
WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) to the 802.11 message. This greatly increases the
difficulty in carrying out forgery attacks.
Both integrity check mechanisms are calculated
by the receiver and compared against the values sent by the sender in the frame. If the
values match, there is assurance that the message has not been tampered with.