You seem to have a very loose definition of what a "hacker mindset" is than most people: "the ability to find alternative ways to achieve their goals, bypassing bottlenecks and hurdles and thinking outside the box."
This is someone taking that concept to the extent of criminal behavior.
Sorry to break it to you like this but a lot of hacking in the past was explicitly for illegal reasons. Do we hop on HN to scold phreakers every time such an article comes up? No -- so this is a double standard.
You seem to have a very loose definition of what a "hacker mindset" is than most people: "the ability to find alternative ways to achieve their goals, bypassing bottlenecks and hurdles and thinking outside the box."
This is someone taking that concept to the extent of criminal behavior.