That seems to be part of their motivation. From a recent interview published at http://www.dailydot.com/technology/lizard-squad-hackers

“Microsoft and Sony are fucking retarded, literally monkeys behind computers,” Omari said. “They would have better luck if they actually hired someone who knew what they were doing. Like, if they went around prisons and hired people who were convicted for stuff like this, they would have a better chance at preventing attacks.”

“If I was working [at Microsoft or Sony] and had a big enough budget, I could totally stop these attacks,” Cleary claimed. “I’d buy more bandwidth, some specific equipment, and configure it correctly. It’s just about programming skill. With an attack of this scale, it could go up to the millions. But that’s really no problem for Sony and Microsoft.”

"If I get caught, then I get caught. Maybe I'll end up serving time, or maybe I'll end up helping companies, help them get better I guess."

Well based on what they did, they obviously can't advertise their work. They also won't have any interest in working for SV companies. The only kind of job they are after is in the black market (organized crime and intelligence).

This. Another possibility I've considered is that they obviously wouldn't be able to get a job at any SV company, but perhaps when applying for the Chinese NSA, maybe hacking Sony is something you can put on your resume?

I guess I'm not sure, but my guess is there could be a few entities outside the US that would appreciate that kind of skill.

You can't even get into intelligence anymore after doing this, lol. They'd never pass the background checks.

They hire contractors. Most intelligence works are "outsourced." http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/nsa-leaks-put-focus-o...

A plausible example is hiring a team to DDoS another State-sponsored infrastructure from outside of U.S. soil. Or hire some elite crackers to write custom software for them.

You still get investigated even if you are a contractor. I know many of them firsthand, and they tell me that contractors are put under additional scrutiny, actually. You need a high-level clearance for this sort of work done on behalf of the government, regardless of your employer.

Glad to know, but I still feel some of contract works require high-level clearance or background check.

If they just need a crack tool, they just need an agent to pay someone to write the tool and that doesn't give away information. Maybe I am spoiled by TV shows how they contact elite hackers in the black market.

Yeah, there's a lot more bureaucracy involved. I know people who used to work at these sorts of places. It's a wonder that anything gets accomplished, at all.

not officially anyway...

Or they're just sociopathic and sadistic and actually enjoy what they are doing. Wouldn't be the first time a DDOS was done just for the lulz.