Ping 33: Windows Phones are here, Windows 7 party kit, hacking & phishing

Regarding why people try to hack into email accounts, there actually is a huge black market for everything related to online identities. Credit Cards and Bank Accounts are what sell for the most (anywhere from $0.05 to $5,000 a piece), but spammers can also use personal email addresses to send spam or for blackmail/extortion. Sometimes it is just someone wanting to break into a large system for name recognition, but in most cases if you can get a million usernames and passwords you can find someone willing to pay for it. If you want to read more check out these links:

Items on the black market: http://ivebeenmugged.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/09/stolen-card-worth.html

Story about hacking the hackers: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-01/ff_max_butler

Analysis of data collected from a botnet: http://blog.theg2.net/2009/05/torpig-botnet-analysis-when-was-last.html

Keep up the great work!