The Tiny Encryption Algorithm (TEA) is a symmetric key encryption algorithm created by David Wheeler and Roger Needham of Cambridge University. TEA is one of the fastest and most efficient cryptographic algorithms due to its minimal memory footprint and maximized speed. It is a Feistel cipher that achieves diffusion and confusion after only six rounds, though thirty-two rounds are recommended for security. TEA performs operations on 32-bit words and encrypts data in 64-bit blocks using a 128-bit key split into four 32-bit subkeys.