I never said they did, but it doesn't take one of "the most frightening hackers" to compromise your system.
In fact, your box may already be owned right now and you would never know it.
I doubt it, since I've got 5 total firewalls and trace every packet both in and out. Nor do I trust hackers or frequent many hacker sites.
The best security gurus I've known were constant visitors to hacker sites and IRC. It's good to know up front what's brewing instead of finding out when you get hit.