Norton 360, one of the most popular security suites on the market, has reportedly begun installing a cryptocurrency mining program on its customers’ computers. Although the cryptominer is opt-in, the company is facing considerable backlash from customers who expect features like antivirus, not a tool to use their hardware (and electricity) in the hopes of generating digital currency.
Security expert Brian Krebs reports that Norton 360, one of the most popular antivirus products around, has begun installing a cryptocurrency mining program on its customer’s computers. The miner is part of an optional program developed by Norton which it says is a cloud-based service that activates the program and allows customers to profit from the scheme — while Norton takes a 15 percent cut of any cryptocurrency mined.
The opt-in mining program called “Norton Crypto” will reportedly mine Ethereum cryptocurrency while the customer’s computer is idle and not performing any intensive tasks. “Norton creates a secure digital Ethereum wallet for each user,” the FAQ for the program reads. “The key to the wallet is encrypted and stored securely in the cloud. Only you have access to the wallet.”
Ethereum Founder and Inventor Vitalik Buterin (flickr/TechCrunch)
NortonLifeLock said that the Norton Crypto feature is an opt-in feature and users must grant explicit permission for the program to run. “If users have turned on Norton Crypto but no longer wish to use the feature, it can be disabled by temporarily shutting off ‘tamper protection’ (which allows users to modify the Norton installation) and deleting NCrypt.exe from your computer,” NortonLifeLock said in a statement.
However, multiple users have reported that the uninstallation process for the software is not easy to follow. Many Norton users are angered by the move, with one post on the company’s forum reading: “Norton should be DETECTING and killing off crypto mining hijacking, not installing their own. The product people need firing. What’s the next ‘bright idea’? Norton Botnet? ‘ And I was just about to re-install Norton 360 too, but this has literally has caused me to no longer trust Norton and their direction.”
Security researcher Chris Vickery tweeted his disapproval for the program, calling it “brand suicide:”
Norton is pretty much amplifying energy consumption worldwide, costing their customers more in electricity use than the customer makes on the mining, yet allowing Norton to make a ton of profit.
It's disgusting, gross, and brand-suicide.
— Chris Vickery (@VickerySec) January 6, 2022
Read more at Krebs on Security here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
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