Device and application security specialist, Trustonic has announced two new partnerships with key players in the expanding Chinese smartphone, tablet and wearable markets. Both headquartered in Shenzhen and shipping products to a worldwide customer base, CK Telecom and Shenzhen Sang Fei Consumer Communication Co. will integrate the Trustonic Trusted Execution Environment (TEE)* into their devices. This enables the manufacturers to enhance the security and privacy of their devices and to comply with Google’s mandate for hardware security in devices supporting Android M and above.
“Trustonic’s TEE is the perfect technology to help us meet Google’s mandate for hardened security,” comments Chris Woo, VP of R&D at CK Telecom. “But this is not the only driver for us. Integrating the Trustonic TEE allows us to make our devices even more secure, protect sensitive applications from hacking and malware and offer secure biometric authentication. As Trustonic offers the only open TEE technology that allows trusted apps to be loaded once devices are in end-user hands, the decision to partner with them was a simple one.”
Already embedded in more than one billion devices, the Trustonic TEE offers hardware protection in the form of a secure operating system which is completely isolated from the device operating system. This makes it, and trusted applications residing in it, immune to all software threats resident on the device and enables advanced device security, such as biometric authentication and secure PIN entry. The Root of Trust also ensures that a trusted identity is preserved within the device, preventing fraudulent use or copying.
“The robustness of Trustonic’s TEE was extremely important to us, but the support that its experts have offered to us at our headquarters in China has also been particularly valuable in ensuring a smooth, swift and successful integration. Service providers and consumers can now have even greater confidence in our devices,” adds Dr Michael Chang, General Manager of the R&D Centre at Shenzhen Sang Fei Consumer Communications Co., LTD.
George Kanuck, SVP of Global Sales and Marketing at Trustonic, adds: “In the age of increased hacking and more destructive and invasive malware, devices, services and brands need to be protected. Device manufacturers want to ensure the integrity of their devices and service providers need assurances that their apps and data are safe. Trustonic’s TEE is unique in its approach to enabling this. We also continue to expand our global customer support team, particularly in the Chinese market. This means that we can build close partnerships and support manufacturers locally with technical knowledge, deep security experience and knowledgeable team members. That is why CK Telecom and Sang Fei are integrating Trustonic Device Security and Application Security. We look forward to working closely with both parties to bring even greater trust and secure functionality to their devices.”
Trustonic recently became the first vendor globally to achieve Common Criteria security certification for a TEE device security product, paving the way for mass market delivery of trusted services on connected devices.
* Trusted Execution Environment (TEE)
The TEE is a secure area of the main processor in a smart phone (or any connected device) that ensures sensitive data is stored, processed and protected in an isolated, trusted environment without an extra Bill of Material (BOM) cost. The TEE’s ability to offer isolated safe execution of authorised security software, known as ‘trusted applications’, provides end-to-end security by enforcing protection, confidentiality, integrity and data access rights and by providing means for strong user and device authentication. In particular, the TEE offers a level of protection against software attacks running in the Rich OS environment. It houses business-specific sensitive applications, which need to be isolated from the Rich OS.
