I think there are three distinct type hackers,
1- Those that find it a technical challenge to get into something you shouldnt (cue witty knicker related jokes)
2 - Those with malicious intent who wish spoil or deface something someone else has. much along the lines of people who 'key' cars etc, these people generally use scripts/tools produced by 1
3 - Those who do it for financial gain
3 isnt an issue here, my guess is 2 was the cause of the problem as 1 probably has better things to do with his time
1 has some value because they highlight security flaws that could be exploited by 3, the fact that they publish scripts/tools is a bit suspect. So its better than 1 finds them before 3, the fact that they then become public knowledge forces the vendors/authors to fix the problem, thereby preventing 3 from exploiting them.
Its probabaly more complicated than this but thats one view.
