Norton 360 Criticized For Installing a Cryptominer

According to security researcher Brian Krebs,Norton has installed a mining program on its customers' computers.

The TL;DR is thatNorton does install a miner with its software, without making it clear in the initial setup process. It isn't going to do anything unless you specifically opt in, so it's not a situation where you'll install the security suite and instantly start seeing your computer lag as it crunches crypt in the background.

ANortonLifeLock told The Verge that you can uninstall NCrypt.exe by temporarily turning offNorton's tamper protection feature and then uninstall the program. It could be good news for anyone who is worried about theNorton feature being activated remotely.

The product has drawn some bad reactions, not just because it's keeping 15% of the currency mined, but also because it's difficult to remove, and because customers have ranged from unease and disbelief to, " dude.

The FAQ states that "Norton Crypto" will mine ether while the customer's computer is not in use. The FAQ says that the only systems that will work withNortonCrypto will be systems that meet certain hardware and software requirements. The FAQ states thatNorton creates a secure digital wallet for each user. The key to the wallet is stored in the cloud. Only you have access to the wallet. The mining service was offered byNortonLifeLock in July of 2021.

Any users have reported difficulties removing the mining program.

Some long time customers ofNorton were horrified at the prospect of their product installing coin-mining software, regardless of whether the mining service was turned off by default. The thread titled "Absolutely furious" was created by a person who was angry about theNorton's decision to add a security product with a feature that mines cryptocurrencies.

The post saysNorton should be disabling and killing off hijacking of mining.

"Norton is making a lot of money by increasing energy use by their customers, but also by allowing them to make a lot of money by mining," said security researcher Chris Vickery. It's disgusting, gross, and brand-suicide.

There's the matter of getting paid. Transactions of cryptocurrencies may result in transaction fees paid to the users of the network who process the transaction, according to the FAQ. Which might explain why so many users ofNortonCrypto have taken to the community's online forum to complain about having trouble withdrawing their earnings. If the amount requested can't cover the transfer fees, the system will block withdrawals.

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Thanks to JustAnotherOldGuy for tipping us off.