Secret Service Paid Hacker $75,000 a Year

And, really, the only thing this yells out to me is that someone interested in computers can earn A LOT more being malicious (luck vs. work-wise) than creative on average. Not that it's particularly smart in the long run, but nevertheless there are countless others that get away with these crimes.

And so that's what happens when you underpay your employees :)

After taxes, that's about $32K. If hacker lives in California, that's $15.2K. Makes you wonder why more hackers don't run bot farms.