Master Thesis MSTR-2021-46

BibliographyYadav, Priyashi: Secure User Concept for Mercedes-Benz AG / VANs IoT Platform.
University of Stuttgart, Faculty of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, and Information Technology, Master Thesis No. 46 (2021).
101 pages, english.
Abstract

Abstract In general, as the technologies expand, the security aspect becomes more and more critical and essential for data protection. Researchers and scientists are constantly researching how to improve the internet communication experience by improving communication and security. In the industry of automotive, companies have grown over the years in terms of diversity, and the reference of the word “user’s” has grown beyond individuals (customers/employees) into vehicles (devices) and bots with the significance that intelligent devices play in today’s world of Internet of Things (IoT). Connectivity has become inevitable as a market need and this brings its own set of challenges. During the case study, it was learnt that an automotive company’s internal Enterprise Information Technology landscape has undergone drastic changes in recent years due to advancements in technology and the availability of several top-tier solutions. So much technology evolution that the companies have several different Identity and Identity and Access Management (IAM) technologies, User Authorization and Authentication schemes and models for the services they offer among their different platform services within their organization, isolated systems that see a huge need to be unified now. The thesis focuses on designing a hybrid IAM model that can centralize several individual platform services and systems for their users. The solution is tested for its user experience, response time, scalability and security. Future needs and changes to the existing system are also foreseen and discussed in the end. The key result is a transformed unified solution that has the pro’s of the already existed models inline with the foreseen future (next 10 years) business needs where the gaps were identified for possible necessary improvements. The work provided a feasible solution for IAM model transformation for an organization targeting market release in March 2022 which integrated several organization specific user authentication models. Every organization specific user authentication models although they followed standard OAuth models, the challenge was these systems had unique identifier which were different and therefore the solution had to compromise on some minor user flows and added some constraints and limitations. Still all the business requirements were successfully achieved with good bench-marking results. The biggest challenge for automotive industry is humans. People have different perspectives and preferences. Just like there is and will never be one perfect car for everyone, the technological advancements and different expectations from each individual in terms of user experience will need to be always accounted. Therefore our solution will also need evolution and transformation over time and this will be a continuous process.

Department(s)University of Stuttgart, Institute of Architecture of Application Systems
Superviser(s)Aiello, Prof. Marco; Hon, Anna Lucinda; Tharan, Muthukumaran Tharani; Kanagaraj, Chandrasekar
Entry dateNovember 24, 2021
   Publ. Computer Science