>>
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/01/500m-avira-antivirus-users-introduced-to-cryptomining/>>
>>I've been saying AV is inherently evil for a long time, this is grist for the mill...
>
>Is percentage or target set of Norton users stealing electricity from utility company or neighbor really large enough ?
My understanding is crypto mining isn't profitable with consumer rigs and residential/business electricity prices. But the AV companies will still get a cut of the efforts of anyone dumb enough to enrol; essentially, a parasitic drain on their computing resources and utilities.
It's also a kind of "loyalty" program. When you uninstall pretty much all AV programs, you get nasty scareware messages such as
"Are you sure? YOUR COMPUTER MAY NOT BE PROTECTED!!" I imagine Norton/Avira customers will now get another message:
"Are you sure? YOU WILL LOSE ACCESS TO YOUR CRYPTOWALLET!!" ... and that will even be true :(
Regards. Al
"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." -- Isaac Asimov
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