ZTE Turns to Intrepidus to Improve Smartphone Security

ZTE Corporation, a global provider of mobile handsets, telecommunications equipment and network solutions, this week entered into a new partnership with Intrepidus, a provider of mobile application and device security services. With this partnership, ZTE aims to leverage its growing popularity as a smartphone manufacturer to become a major player in smartphone security.

Indeed, the company now ranks as the fourth largest manufacturer of smartphones worldwide and has experienced significant growth in the United States in the past few years after expanding its focus to include higher-end devices.

As part of this new agreement, Intrepidus will evaluate the security mechanisms of ZTE's smartphones. The evaluation will be thorough, including identifying potential vulnerabilities in these devices, conducting penetration testing of device management interfaces and features, and reverse engineering and source code review. This testing will result in far greater device security in ZTE's devices going forward.

Although ZTE doesn't mention attempting to penetrate government markets, it may be a possibility as device security is obviously of utmost importance in this sector. The company did explicitly state that this is the beginning of its overall plan to improve smartphone security.

“Our work with Intrepidus stands as an important milestone in handset security,” said Lixin Cheng, CEO of ZTE USA and president of the North America Region for ZTE, in a statement. “With the increasing number of transactions carried out on smartphones, the need to protect personal information becomes more important each day. At ZTE, we have always been committed to making world-class technology accessible to everyone; now our work with Intrepidus will ensure that our customers can continue to connect in meaningful, innovative and affordable ways without questioning the security of their smartphones.”

Earlier this month, ZTE partnered with Telekom Austria Group (TAG) to deliver multiscreen video to Mobitel, a wholly owned subsidiary of TAG. This capability will leverage ZTE's IPTV platform.

In February, ZTE was selected as a preferred global vendor by STC Group, the largest telecommunication service provider in the Middle East and North Africa.