Norton 360 Now Comes With a Cryptominer

Brian Krebs:

Norton 360, one of the most popular antivirus products on the market today, has installed a cryptocurrency mining program on its customers’ computers. Norton’s parent firm says the cloud-based service that activates the program and allows customers to profit from the scheme — in which the company keeps 15 percent of any currencies mined — is “opt-in,” meaning users have to agree to enable it. But many Norton users complain the mining program is difficult to remove, and reactions from longtime customers have ranged from unease and disbelief to, “Dude, where’s my crypto?”

Krebs also reports that Avira antivirus — which apparently has 500 million users and is owned by the same parent company as Norton — is doing the same thing.

Given how much energy it takes to mine cryptocurrencies, I suspect that few users who opt into this will net any money for themselves. It’s just a scam, like most antivirus software itself and the whole world of cryptocurrencies.

★ Monday, 10 January 2022