Despite the recent drop in prices for Bitcoin and Ethereum, the hype surrounding the two strongest cryptocurrencies in the market is still great. Even Avira and Norton do not seem to want to let it pass by completely. The two Antivirus programs Reports indicate that crypto miners are taking advantage of members of their community to mine coins. Some users accuse Norton of doing this without notice.
Antivirus programs mine cryptocurrencies
Norton laid the foundation stone in the form of an announcement in mid-2021. The company has added a crypto miner to the scope of installation of Norton 360 and, at the same time, created an account on the Coinbase platform for each customer. If you use the program, you have to give around 15 percent of the mined cryptocurrencies to Norton. The crypto miner mainly focuses on Ethereum. Officially, the program is not installed without being asked. But if you believe reports from the Hacker News community, this is also not uncommon.
However, antivirus programs also use procedures like this one – including Avira.
“Avira Crypto enables the mining of the crypto currency Ethereum (ETH) while your computer is idle. Avira Crypto is an opt-in function and is not activated without the consent of the user. If users have activated Avira Crypto but no longer want to use the function, it can be deactivated via the user interface of the Avira product. “
Avira Support
Voluntarily or not?
In the case of an opt-in function, such as that used by Avira, you can assume that the crypto miner will not work without your knowledge. You may now be wondering why that would be problematic in the first place. After all, prospecting actually means making money, doesn’t it? In fact, its usage primarily drives up your computer’s consumption. Depending on how much you ultimately have to pull off the antivirus programs, it may not be worth it for you.
Avira also points out that crypto mining is less suitable for users “with an average computer”. “Even with the right hardware, mining cryptocurrencies on your own can be less rewarding,” writes the company on its support page.
For comparison: With five graphics cards, mining can be worthwhile.
Sources: Hacker News, Avira