Only if the goal is to actually spread fear in a civilian population. It's not clear what the motivation is here besides "the worm spreads itself lol".

that dead man's switch surely smells like that tbh

The dead man's switch reminds me of worms and viruses from my childhood, whose primary purpose was apparently just to wreak havoc rather than direct financial gain. It's a childish gimmick.

If an infected computer gets disabled after deactivating one stolen credential, it might slow down the victim from deactivating their other stolen credentials.

Ugh. True.