[Col.Kurtz]

Excuse me if this turns into a bit of a rant but...

I use a car enthusiast forum, it's free to use but you can pay a couple of quid to become a member and get cheaper parts, insurance etc..
It's run by volunteers and is a really good community of people with a common interest.
There is a great spirit of helping your fellow enthusiast on there eg. One bloke came on saying he was thinking of getting rid of his car because he was having a great deal of difficulty finding out why it wouldn't start (he wasn't very technically minded). Within about 3 or 4 posts another guy comes on, says he will be in his area over christmas and will find the cause of his troubles.
I've met some of them when I've needed second hand spares, sometimes getting them free of charge and they are just normal people with an interest in a cheap, japanese car.

Yesterday I got an email from some scrote saying that the forum had been "owned"...I tried to go to the forum and it had indeed been hacked...there was nothing but an error message.
What I want to know is what do these hackers get out of what they do? I can't help thinking they must be really sad individuals if that is what they spend their time on.
I've tried again this morning but it's still down, I'm sure all the information is backed up but they must have made a mess of something for it to be down so long.
There was a photography site I used to go on that had the same treatment, unfortunately this had not been backed up for a while and lots of useful information had gone for good.
They could be hacked by someone with a grudge I suppose, but somehow I suspect it's by someone with nothing better to do.
How does the law treat this type of incident? If it was a big company I guess the hacker could get into a lot of trouble if they were traced but what about smaller sites?