probably also because of piracy and the cracking scene. you're too poor to buy software, so you learn to crack it. you learn how to read assembly and use a debugger, a ton of obfuscation techniques and how to circumvent them, cryptanalysis through writing keygens. I'm not from the Eastern Bloc but I picked up some serious reverse engineering skills as a teenager from the warez scene.
Same here couple decades ago, but along with that being poor also limits your alternative forms of entertainment as well as access to the latest high performance HW. Which leads to both the boredom required to think that sitting in front of ones computer for days on end hacking as well as the motivation to figure our how to hack some game to run slightly better.
I freqently think that my parents best parenting choice was the choice to not have a TV in our house when I was growing up. It both saved them money but removed a very common time wasting/entertainment outlet. My own kids went from playing with legos, creating art, or messing with science kits to playing on their phones as soon as they were given that choice. And i'm still of the opinion that providing that choice was a big mistake, they are experts on the latest social media fad, and quite ignorant about things I wish they would have learned.
So, yes enviroment matters, some kids will hack even when given an xbox and a pile of games, but I think more of them will try it if they aren't given those choices.
