Botnets, spyware, etc, are all tools of exploiting well intentioned users to harm others. Just not quite physically.

My car runs software from 1997 without any issue. A well-built and properly isolated core shouldn't be a problem. No reputable manufacturer would give a user-installable piece of code a connection to the systems that control movement.

That is the whole point of this fuss, though. Way too many systems, from nuclear plants to manufacturers to traffic controllers are exposed to the internet (often through backdoors in LANs) and are vulnerable to network exploits.

It is the faults of the designers they make them visible like that, but they do it, and it is an issue.

Has this been the case with network-connected cars? You'd think some app developer somewhere would love the notoriety of blowing the whistle on poor isolation.