Car hacking: the buy here pay here way...

that story is hugely over-blown. the "hack" cited was for an after-market pc-based system, and it's as vulnerable as any p.c. most of the systems on cars are what's called "embedded". typically they're not networked or accessible, so there is no entry means, and they're usually "locked" at the chip level - primarily to stop competitors peering into their code.

now, there are parts of the system that are accessible like gps, but i.m.o, anyone willing to pay $3000 for a gps option that's inferior to many after-market $300 systems, that you have to pay through the ass to get upgraded, or worse, requires a monthly subscription to operate, has to be out of their mind. especially when those kind of systems are capable of calling in when you're speeding, etc. if anyone wants to hack those things, go ahead and be my guest.

there is a trend towards "upgradable" ecu software, but that's by means of an entire encrypted o/s "image", it's not readily accessible in the way that a p.c. is. you can monkey with it by replacing the image with one you've tried to unencrypt and modify, but that still takes physical access. and frankly, once somebody has physical access, they can replace the ecu with their own and drive away anyway.