>>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 :(