November 13, 2014: The U.S. has charged four men (two Americans, a Canadian and an Australian) with hacking into Microsoft and U.S. Army networks to steal software (source code) for new games and for a U.S. Army AH-64 helicopter flight simulator designed to run on the XBox game console. The value of the stolen items was put at $100 million. While military secrets were involved it’s unclear who the four intended to sell any of it two. There is a black market for stuff like this. Counterfeiters will pay a one-time fee to get software of unreleased games. Chinese firms and government organizations are willing to buy military related software. As yet no details of what, if any, customers has been released.

It’s quite common for “recreational hackers” to get into some very secure networks and get out with valuable stuff. It’s still a major crime and if you are caught it can turn into a very expensive (in legal fees) and time consuming (especially if sent to prison) hobby.