Android Defense in Depth Strategy in an Automobile Ecosystem

Android is becoming an environment of choice in the automotive sector because of near production grade open source stack availability and large developer community. With growing interest from Automotive OEMs for Android IVI (In-Vehicle Infotainment) solutions, we predict a similar growth trend in an automobile like in Mobile space. At another end, the need for more interconnected devices within the Automobile ecosystem is increasing, which leads to an increased threat to security. In sophisticated device interconnections, identifying the gateways and implementing the right security strategy is key to improve overall system security & stability. While Android is maturing for automotive and with growing interest from automotive OEMs, we spent time in analyzing current Android defense-in-depth concepts with the automotive perspective. The main aim of this paper is to examine the current defense-in-depth strategies available in Android and propose additional measures to meet automotive needs. This paper shall aid OEM’s to consider proposed strategies for their Android IVI solutions for increased security & safety.