Securing your vehicle used to consist of making sure all the doors were locked, keeping valuable items hidden out of sight and parking it in a safe, preferably off-street location.

But a new generation of cars includes more tech wizardry than a jumbo jet, raising consumer concerns that vehicles are more vulnerable than ever to light-fingered criminals. In these times, however, those light fingers are more likely to be twiddling on a laptop or remote-entry system than sticking a wire clothes hanger through a cracked window.

A new study proves that the movement away from pure mechanization to digitization is exposing us to new opportunities for vulnerability. It's becoming increasingly easier to access all vehicles controls from one central location. The car's ECU, or electronic control unit, is the brain of your grocery getter. A team of researchers from The University of Washington in Seattle and The University of California San Diego recently took on the task of seeing if they could control a car's systems through its ECU.

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