It's quite frightening but if you have a car less than around eight years old you have ECU's, theres no getting away from it, at least most modern cars have cable or rod controlled rear brakes via the handbrake.
"The computer systems used to control modern cars are very vulnerable to attack, say experts"
What a load of tosh. Its only vulnerable if somebody first gets access to the inside of your car and then hooks up a computer to the communications port and installs the new instructions.
but personally id rather drive by cables and rods the drive by wire
i could never drive a car without the steering mechanism being attached to the wheels in the traditional way