New study shows just how bad vehicle hacking has gotten

For many people around the world, a large portion of their lives is lived online. Not in some kind of Second Life-Matrix hellscape, but they conduct business, maintain personal relationships, manage their money, buy stuff and even get their car news using the internet.

This has been amazing for convenience, but that convenience has outpaced security, and so we hear about companies being hacked on a near-daily basis. This problem is increasingly spilling over into our vehicles, which have become increasingly attractive targets to hackers as they've gotten more technologically sophisticated.

Now, we've covered vehicle hacks and vulnerabilities before, along with manufacturer "bug bounty" programs that encourage so-called "white hat" hackers to report their findings in exchange for a financial reward rather than exploit them for other personal gains. What we've lacked has been a more complete picture of just how bad car hacking has gotten, but thanks to a report by Israeli firm Upstream.auto, now we've got one.