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Norton 360 Now Comes With a Cryptominer – Krebs on Security
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/01/norton-360-now-comes-with-a-cryptominer/
>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?”
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500M Avira Antivirus Users Introduced to Cryptomining – Krebs on Security
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/01/500m-avira-antivirus-users-introduced-to-cryptomining/
>Many readers were surprised to learn recently that the popular Norton 360 antivirus suite now ships with a program which lets customers make money mining virtual currency. But Norton 360 isn’t alone in this dubious endeavor: Avira antivirus — which has built a base of 500 million users worldwide largely by making the product free — was recently bought by the same company that owns Norton 360 and is introducing its customers to a service called Avira Crypto.
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>Like Norton 360, Avira comes with a cryptominer already installed, but customers have to opt in to using the service that powers it. Avira’s FAQ on its cryptomining service is somewhat sparse. For example, it doesn’t specify how much NortonLifeLock gets out of the deal (NortonLifeLock keeps 15 percent of any cryptocurrency mined by Norton Crypto).
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Nope.
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https://www.nortonlifelock.com/us/en/ is the owner of both companies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NortonLifeLock
It is scary that a so-called security company does not recognize that adding _anything extra_ to a security scanner is absolutely dangerous to all its customers, regardless of whether its customers use the added functionality.
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Besides the built-in conflict of interest. If Norton generates money on cryptocurrency mining, what's to stop it from turning the functionality on for every Norton installation, regardless of whether the owner / user had signed up for the mining program?
100% versus 15% is going to be hard for any organization to turn down.
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As for me, I'm sticking with my zero-price Microsoft antivirus.
GeniusMusing
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