Encouraging Hackers - Great Idea :-(

I was just reading the lastest Mashable article called iPhone, Firefox, Safari, IE8 Hacked at Pwn2Own Contest they say 

"Vincenzo Iozzo and Ralf Philipp Weinmann sent an iPhone to a web site they’d set up, crashing its browser and then stealing its entire SMS database (including some erased messages). It is possible, however, to set up a similar attack to work without crashing the browser, hackers claim, and set up different attack payloads. Iozzo and Weinmann won a $15,000 prize for successfully demonstrating the attack. Details about the attack will be released once Apple is notified and the security hole is patched."

"Charlie Miller, principal security analyst at Independent Security Evaluators, managed to hack Safari on a MacBook Pro without physical access, which won him $10,000. Nils (no last name given), head of research at UK-based MWR InfoSecurity, won $10,000 for hacking Firefox, and independent security researcher Peter Vreugdenhil won the same amount for hacking IE8. All the browser attacks were done by having the browser visit a malicious web site; although full details aren’t disclosed, Cnet has some more technical info on the attacks."

Now seriously why are they being encouraged!? And on even more of a rant what do hackers get out of breaking things!? I know that these guys are obviously very talented but surely they can better use their talents?? There seems to have been a huge increase in the amount of viruses and spammers recently, and especially with the viruses - what do their creators get from it!? Of the sites that I know that have been infected recently none of them hold databases of customer information or anything else that may been seen as valuable. I genuinely don't get it!! Is this the modern version of mindless violence? 

Seriously spammers and virus wielding low lives - GET A JOB!!

Rant over - I feel much better now ;-) 

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