Professional Ethics...GONE BAD!

We all try to do the right thing at some point in our lives. Yet, what happens when we try to do the right thing and make the situation worse? Does that person deserve to be punished when their intentions were pure, but their actions caused harm? I hear a story in my professional ethics class today about a man that found a flaw in his company's online security system. He tried to tell his higher-ups about the problem, but his concerns fell on deaf ears.
So he created a virus and sent it through the system to show the company its mistake. Unfortunately, as you may have guessed from my introduction, something went awry. In fact, he couldn't control his creation and it terrorized the system (My heart goes out to you, sir). In the long run, the company may have been spared something worse. In the short run, the virus did more damage than it ever should have. Needless to say, he was fired.
I understand both the company's and the man's position. I probably would have fired him too, but with empathy. I know I've tried to do the right thing only to have it blow up in my face. What would you do?

K~La