Norton Antivirus does WHAT? It mines crypto now?

I guess I missed this...

I don't use Norton anymore, and haven't for quite awhile because it's become quite the resource hog.

But, apparently, since august of this year, it's been capable of mining Ethereum, if you have a more powerful computer.

And then they take a cut of what you mine (15%), and possibly a cut of when you transfer or sell?





I've taken to just using Windows Defender on my Windows setups, because it's become usable enough, and just do malware scans as I go along.

What about you guys?

a reply to: gspat

Norton/Lifelock mines for personal data. Run the other way from this service.

I say that might mean Etherum will either be worth loads or it's gonna drop into oblivion, it's the crypto market.

I wonder if you work IT corporately could you run Norton on all the business computers at your disposal, and mine said crypto covertly for yourself?

a reply to: gspat

I haven't used, or recommended Norton or Symantec products for years.

A couple of years back, there was a review of the Symantec Endpoint Protection, which was supposed to be the 'big-iron' enterprise flagship product, and it was determined that it actually made your PC more vulnerable than having no AV (or firewall) at all.

That, and the constant resource issues that have always plagued the products, not to mention the occasional screw-ups with untested updates meant that I usually used to opt for ESET NOD, despite its expense.

I also have used Webroot and Trend at at various times, but they have their issues too.

Currently, I'm preferring Defender Advanced Threat Protection, it's a no-brainer and seems particularly stable and doesn't miss much. It also integrates into Microsoft deployment and admin suites, too. It can be a resource hog in low-resource systems, but is generally better behaved than other anti-malware suites.

Also, a cryptominer in an anti-malware product? What marketing minion thought that was a good idea? LOL.

a reply to: gspat

Unfortunately there is a hell of a lot of software out that that now uses your PC for stealth mining but I am truly surprised to see a formerly respected anti virus company implement it in there software.

I do however suspect that more than this has stealth crypto mining capability and that there are likely even many other corporations that may be using there software including games to stealthily mine cryptocurrency while you play, I mean why else would they force you to have to have your PC online all the time even when playing a single player game?, anti piracy I doubt it even though some of the big players like Origin and even Steam started doing this before Crypto was even a thing but I would not be surprised if someone found it was being done by EA's Origin and Valves Steam and the other similar applications that are popping up these day's like Epic and Uplay etc.

I would also be leery of many OS providers, Linux is good but it being open source is an invitation for someone to hide crypto mining even in that or some of it's applications and I doubt very much windows is immune to this hidden feature.

It's a sad time when you can no longer put your trust in your AV, however some AV company's also at one time wrote the virus they screened against, I heard story's (Probably just rumours but) of an office in Karachi were the AV programmers worked in one room and the Virus writers worked in another for the same employer.

Yes a computer has plenty of power but the more power it uses the more energy it draws and the more you have to pay for your electricity.
So someone has decided to use YOUR hardware, YOUR Energy bill's to make themselves rich, dirt bags in my opinion plain and simple criminals.

originally posted by: putnam6
I say that might mean Etherum will either be worth loads or it's gonna drop into oblivion, it's the crypto market.

I wonder if you work IT corporately could you run Norton on all the business computers at your disposal, and mine said crypto covertly for yourself?

Wouldn't be worth the risk of just running Norton. It's been a resource hog for 30+ years, ever since shortly after Peter Norton sold it to Symantec in 1990. Well, there was a short period of time when it didn't suck too bad when it was rewritten from scratch that one time...

But no, Norton, Macafee... just total pos... I've been using ESET for 15+ years (since it was NOD32 version 1).

If you want to mine it, mine it... if you have the IT access, and don't care about risking getting found out.

I'd never use it for all the reasons mentioned here. That said, it's a pretty clever way to increase revenue off the average idiot.

originally posted by: tanstaafl

originally posted by: putnam6
I say that might mean Etherum will either be worth loads or it's gonna drop into oblivion, it's the crypto market.

I wonder if you work IT corporately could you run Norton on all the business computers at your disposal, and mine said crypto covertly for yourself?

Wouldn't be worth the risk of just running Norton. It's been a resource hog for 30+ years, ever since shortly after Peter Norton sold it to Symantec in 1990. Well, there was a short period of time when it didn't suck too bad when it was rewritten from scratch that one time...

But no, Norton, Macafee... just total pos... I've been using ESET for 15+ years (since it was NOD32 version 1).

If you want to mine it, mine it... if you have the IT access, and don't care about risking getting found out.

Not asking if Norton sucks I know MacAfee does BTW. But certainly, there are plenty of businesses with multiple computers that do use Norton

Im asking could a so inclined IT person do that, Im not an IT guy nor am inclined, and a complete noob to crypto Im just thinking would it be possible?

Every corporate or even semi corporate business has Ive been in, pretty much lets the IT guy do their magic and don't ask questions, and even if they do, a savvy IT can baffle them with BS for a long time. Ive seen it happen.

Cause honestly if you are the IT guy, who is gonna catch them?

originally posted by: LABTECH767
a reply to: gspat

Unfortunately there is a hell of a lot of software out that that now uses your PC for stealth mining but I am truly surprised to see a formerly respected anti virus company implement it in there software.

I do however suspect that more than this has stealth crypto mining capability and that there are likely even many other corporations that may be using there software including games to stealthily mine cryptocurrency while you play, I mean why else would they force you to have to have your PC online all the time even when playing a single player game?, anti piracy I doubt it even though some of the big players like Origin and even Steam started doing this before Crypto was even a thing but I would not be surprised if someone found it was being done by EA's Origin and Valves Steam and the other similar applications that are popping up these day's like Epic and Uplay etc.

I would also be leery of many OS providers, Linux is good but it being open source is an invitation for someone to hide crypto mining even in that or some of it's applications and I doubt very much windows is immune to this hidden feature.

It's a sad time when you can no longer put your trust in your AV, however some AV company's also at one time wrote the virus they screened against, I heard story's (Probably just rumours but) of an office in Karachi were the AV programmers worked in one room and the Virus writers worked in another for the same employer.

Yes a computer has plenty of power but the more power it uses the more energy it draws and the more you have to pay for your electricity.
So someone has decided to use YOUR hardware, YOUR Energy bill's to make themselves rich, dirt bags in my opinion plain and simple criminals.

That's why I was asking, so it could be done, hell it sounds like it could easily be done and the only thing stooping somebody would be their ethical level. Let's face it, if it can be owned there is somebody that will try and steal it.

It's things like this the make the crypto market creepy for people. Saw where this one guy tapped in his neighbor's power in a warehouse complex and just had loads of computers mining.

originally posted by: putnam6
in reply to: tanstaafl

Not asking if Norton sucks I know MacAfee does BTW. But certainly, there are plenty of businesses with multiple computers that do use Norton

Yeah, the few instances I've had to talk to my counterparts about this, it almost always is mandated from some moronic mid/higher level manager.

Im asking could a so inclined IT person do that, Im not an IT guy nor am inclined, and a complete noob to crypto Im just thinking would it be possible?

Oh, sure, easily - again, if they have access, and don't mind risking getting caught... which they likely would, because mining bitcoin dramatically increases the amount of power consumed, and if this happened in dozens/hundreds of systems, it would almost certainly stand out.