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Popular Antivirus 'Avira' Adds Ethereum Mining Feature

source-logo  thecryptobasic.com 10 January 2022 17:59, UTC

Avira antivirus developers have added Ethereum cryptocurrency mining software to the product. Before this, a similar feature was implemented in Norton 360.


As reported by the ‘Krebs on Security’ blog, Avira now comes with a crypto-miner already installed for its 500M users, but customers have to opt into using the service that powers it.

First, Norton 360 introduced the feature of crypto mining, but users complained that the miner built into the popular Norton 360 antivirus ran without any special permission. According to users, the Norton 360 miner was also tough to disable.

In January 2021, NortonLifeLock, which owns Norton 360, announced the acquisition of Avira.

Users are offered to join the pool for more profitable mining – the received reward is distributed among all its participants equally.

Avira in its Crypto mining FAQs writes:

“Avira Crypto allows you to use your computer’s idle time to mine the cryptocurrency Ethereum (ETH); since crypto mining requires a high level of processing power, it is not suitable for users with an average computer. Even with compatible hardware, mining cryptocurrencies on your own can be less rewarding. Your best option is to join a mining pool that shares their computer power to improve their chance of mining cryptocurrency. The rewards are then distributed evenly to all members in the pool.”

According to Krebs, there are indications that Avira uses the same cryptocurrency miner code as Norton Crypto. Antivirus is used by over 500 million people around the world.

thecryptobasic.com