A lot of people I've met that reverse malware for a living started out cracking copy protections. It's basically the same skill set. The old SnD forums had an entire section dedicated to it. They even had decompiled Stuxnet samples before anyone really knew what a Stuxnet was.

That entire scene is people just wanting to break protections for the challenge. Not necessarily just copy protections. The InfoSec, and RCE worlds in general, would not be where it is today if it wasn't for them cracking those old games and whatnot.