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Wireless & Mobility · Advanced

Pairwise Transient Key (PTK)

The per-session unicast key derived in the 4-way handshake, split into KCK, KEK, and TK.

Definition

The PTK is computed from the PMK, ANonce, SNonce, and both MAC addresses. The KCK protects handshake integrity, the KEK encrypts the GTK delivery, and the temporal key (TK) encrypts unicast data. Each association has a unique PTK.

Exam tip

TK encrypts unicast frames; GTK encrypts broadcast and multicast.

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