The most popular antivirus, Norton 360, made miners from everyone. This has been going on for some time, but the internet recently learned about it. And traditional Norton customers come alive. One of the most controversial parts of the story is the 15% savings the company takes. This is a commercial program you have to pay for, so it’s not surprising that people aren’t okay with it.
Related Readings | Research: Cryptocurrency Mining Malware Still Rich Despite Market Decline
Of course, Norton’s Ethereum mining program isn’t new. 7 months ago when they were testing it Our sister site Bitcoinist reported on it And said:
“Some Norton 360 customers who participated in the Early Adopter Program received an invitation to mine Ethereum today. The program will include all 13 million Norton customers in the coming months. It will be expanded.
In explaining the strange combination, the company said that cryptocurrency mining is risky and often disables security and allows “unexamined code”. This leaves miners vulnerable to skimmed revenue and ransomware. Norton claims to address these issues by allowing users to securely and easily mine cryptocurrencies through the user-friendly Norton 360 platform. “
Well, it’s for yourself. How can you doubt the good people of Norton?
Internet Discovers Norton’s Ethereum Program
The mining program became viral when Cory Doctorow, the editor of BoingBoing, tweeted.
This is fucking wild. Norton “Antivirus” secretly installs cryptographic software on your computer and then installs SKIMS ACOMMISSION. https://t.co/6s2otyCd78
— Cory Doctorow (@doctorow) January 4, 2022
Security experts and journalists Brian Krebs investigated the case And this is what he came up with:
“according to FAQ posted on the site, “Norton Crypto” mines Ethereum (ETH) cryptocurrencies when the customer’s computer is idle. The FAQ also states that Norton Crypto will only run on systems that meet specific hardware and software requirements, such as NVIDIA graphics cards with 6 GB or more of memory. “
It doesn’t sound so bad. In addition, “According to NortonLifeLock, Norton Crypto is an opt-in feature only and cannot be enabled without your permission.” Okay, but is the “Accept” button checked from the beginning? And why can’t people uninstall the program? In a written statement, NortonLifeLock replied:
“If the user has turned on Norton Crypto but does not want to use this feature, temporarily turn off” Anti-tampering “(which allows the user to change the Norton installation) and run NCrypt.exe from the computer. You can disable it by deleting it. “
ETH price chart for 01/08/2021 on FTX | Source: ETH/USD on TradingView.com
How was the public reaction to the fact that they were Ethereum miners?
“Norton’s longtime customers were scared of the possibility that antivirus products would install coin mining software, regardless of whether mining services were turned off by default,” Krebs said. This is what the program needs to protect them. And they don’t know this is for their own benefit, and they should blindly trust Norton.
On the other hand, that’s okay, and those who want to collect ETH faced another hurdle. Gas charges. If it’s difficult for an experienced Ethereum user to understand that fact, imagine what it was like for a beginner who wasn’t even aware of his new profession as an Ethereum miner. To aid in visualization, read the Norton FAQ description.
“Cryptocurrency transfers can result in transaction fees (also known as” gas “fee) paid to users of the cryptocurrency blockchain network that process the transaction. In addition, if you choose to exchange your cryptocurrency for another currency, you may need to pay a fee to the exchange that facilitates your trading. Transaction fees will fluctuate due to cryptocurrency market conditions and other factors. These charges are not set by Norton. “
What they are saying is correct, but how will civilians react to last year’s ridiculous Ethereum gas tariffs?
Summary and conclusions, Norton’s situation
To easily assess the situation, we look at the tweeted resistance.money Bradley Rettler. “What ?! Norton Antivirus now mine Ethereum by * default *. The” Agree “button is automatically checked and once installed it is very difficult to remove. And they take 15% of what you mined! “
what? !! Norton Antivirus now mines Ethereum * by default * — the “Agree” button is automatically checked and is very difficult to remove once installed. And they take you 15% of mine! https://t.co/5OXDE76KEA
— Bradley Rettler (@rettlerb) January 6, 2022
Yeah, about that. For the impact, return to security expert Brian Krebs.
“I think what I’m most concerned about about Norton Crypto is probably to introduce millions of less knowledgeable Internet users to the world of cryptocurrencies. There are unique security and privacy challenges that need to be addressed. Personal security practices in a fairly important way. “
Related Reading | Powerbridge Technologies Launches Bitcoin and Ethereum Mining in Hong Kong
That also seems to be almost correct.
Now that half of the planet is an Ethereum miner, what do Proof of Work critics say? And what happens to the program when Ethereum turns into Proof of Stake? Burning question.
Featured Image by Sigmund on Unsplash | Charts by TradingView
