zdnet[.]com/article/nortons-cynical-crypto-ploy-a-dark-harbinger-of-crapware-to-come/
When you install Norton 360, you also install a program called NCrypt.exe in the program's Windows directory. Recently, the Verge did a deep dive on how this works. NCrypt is an Ethereum crypto-mining application. Fortunately, and we can give slim kudos to NortonLifeLock (the company behind the software), the crypto-mining application is not automatically turned on.Instead, the installer presents a big green nag screen promising you can "Turn your PC's idle time into cash." This leads to the switch that enables the crypto-miner.
So while Norton isn't running a crypto-miner without your permission, it is installing the software automatically and without prior permission. It's definitely a step up from malware vendors because you can turn the feature on and off.
Norton also doesn't release the Ethereum sliver unless a user reaches a minimum threshold, and that could take a very long time. Then, and only then, can the user transfer the Norton-mined Ethereum to Coinbase, and both the transfer and the sale of the transferred Ethereum will also result in fees.Norton has to know that most users won't make any money. In fact, they have to know that most users will lose money, never actually derive any value, and never take the step to move that tiny little bit of mined Ethereum to Coinbase. Norton has to know that what it's really doing is almost the same as malware vendors: using unsuspecting users' gear and power to mine coin, from which Norton takes a no-way-to-lose 15% cut.
