Not judging but I love how the term "researcher" has been adopted as a way to guise whitehat activities. I wish I could use that to get out of speeding tickets "Officer I am just a researcher and trying to determine if the 55mph speed limit sign is really the law and if it's possible to break it"
Meh, as long as you're only picking your own locks, who cares? (And yes, there are people who pick locks for fun.)
Yup, they found the kyrptonite lock bic pen loophole and made a whole bunch of bikes more safe today. But they also educated a whole bunch of dumb thieves who didn't know in the first place (the smart thieves knew but they are far more rare). So it's always a mixed bag.
Still, in the end I'd rather know about security problems even if it means the "bad guys" get told at the same time, otherwise you just have security theater.