Additional ability

Isn't that what Security Stations do?

Yeah, pretty much. Although the system is rather dodgy at present. Besides, installing boarding parties seems to have the same equivalent value (although don't install both, as apparently both components are destroyed simultaneously), AND it gives you the ability to attack someone else.

Besides, I've never, ever, been boarded. Considering my ship is a ripe prize filled with advanced technology and I don't actually use shields, you'd think someone would try.

BTW, self-destruct devices don't seem to work either, and their description is very SEIV-legacy, where boarding involved two ships in close proximity, so both could be destroyed in the explosion, as opposed to now, where boarding involves an assault shuttle and a boarding ship that is probably nowhere near the blast zone by the time the boarding battle ends. It would be kinda hokey if it would magically explode across the map.