Yes, but if some money were indirectly filtered to them from Microsoft, they might hack the targets Microsoft wants them to hack.
Only an idiot would do such a thing. It would cross the line from question business practices to criminal internet terrorism. And when the hackers talked, and they will, it would create such a scandal that the stocks would nose drive and there would not be company left when the class action lawsuits (from the customers) and the feds were through with them.