A 14-year-old boy (who looked not a day older than 10, by all accounts) went to Radio Shack last July and purchased various electronic parts for about $14. He stayed up all night assembling a circuit board, and the following morning hacked into a new car, remotely gaining access to the vehicle.

“There’s no way he should have been able to do that,” said an automaker executive who witnessed the whole performance. “It was a real wake-up call.”