Hit my "inbox" overnight:
Norton 360, one of the most popular antivirus products on the market today, has installed a cryptocurrency mining program on its customers’ computers. Norton’s parent firm says the cloud-based service that activates the program and allows customers to profit from the scheme — in which the company keeps 15 percent of any currencies mined — is “opt-in,” meaning users have to agree to enable it. But many Norton users complain the mining program is difficult to remove…. [cite]
Effectively, they have added "malware" to an anti-malware product, confirming the old joke that AV software is in-and-of-itself a virus. This action causes me to question if any NortonLifeLock (formerly, Symantec) product belongs on my computers.
Putting my "risk analysis" hat on for a moment, it occurs to me that what they have done is very much a risk-the-company move. Had they simply offered Ehtereum mining as a separate product, I would have had no concerns (although I would not have bought it). It is the act of bundling itself that was the bone-head move.
