BulbousHead.
It is somewhat circular, but... I am less concerned about deterring the hackers themselves, whose actions are somewhat "harmless" (as in my example here), but rather - serious things like - fraud, identity theft, theft of intellectual property, government "secrets", etc. So... that the consumer is protected from the hackers is a bonus, that they are better protected from identity theft, is quite useful.
An analogy in meatspace - especially in crime - is sketchy. In bitspace you have a lot of unique nuances - freely replicable code for one. A stretch might be:
Pickpockets are useful, in that they encourage a local government to increase police enforcement. Police enforcement in and of itself is useful, but the effect of "petty crime" is beneficial in that it also improves policing methods - survelliance, fingerprinting, DNA, laws and courts. And in the end - this deters things like rape and murder. Which as Martha says, is a "good thing"
Anecdotally - you might think of the back-water town in Texas which has never had any significant crime other than the kids getting ahold of a six pack, where suddenly a murder occurs, and the local authorities are completely incapable of solving the crime (fumbling over the crime scene, losing evidence, etc).
I admit this is all a stretch - but I'm trying to play with your analogy.
