Norton suffers backlash
In July 2021, Norton very publicly announced the addition of a cryptocurrency mining program called Norton Crypto to its 360 security suite. The pitch, in a nutshell, was to provide customers with a safe and easy way to get into Ethereum mining.
A month before Norton Crypto was announced, Ethereum had climbed to $5,000 AUD for the first time, therefore it was probably expected that this addition would be met with much excitement. Rather, it wasn’t met with very much of anything and went undiscussed (with the exception of a few select tech blogs) – that is until a few weeks ago after Norton became the centre of backlash for their mining program.
A deeper look into Norton Crypto
In early January, Twitter users took to accusing the cybersecurity company of sneakily installing a crypto-miner without their permission. This soon prompted mass outrage by users across social media and Norton’s own forums.
The shock of users finding out that they’ve unwittingly been forced to install (what most consider) ‘malware’ has meant Norton coming under heavy fire– for that, and several other reasons. Let’s take a look at which complaints are overblown, and which are crucial to be aware of.
Overblown complaints
For starters, the concern that the mining component (called NCrypt.exe) is ‘malware’ is mostly out of an aversion to crypto. The software is completely opt-in, meaning that it will not run unless users give it explicit permission. On top of that, the component will not actually function without having a device that meets the software requirements (including an NVIDIA GPU with at least 6GB of memory). This means that for most, NCrypt.exe is basically the technical equivalent of a paperweight – one that won’t do anything until the user actively goes out of their way to launch it.
Paperweight or not, many users are still worried that due to it being crypto-related, it may create future security issues for their device, including Norton remotely activating the miner. This has led to users attempting to uninstall the software, only to find out that they don’t know how to, leading to more anger and backlash. Thankfully, a FAQ by Norton outlines a quick and simple way to remove the software. A written statement by Norton says: “If users have turned on Norton Crypto but no longer wish to use the feature, it can be disabled by temporarily shutting off ‘tamper protection’ (which allows users to modify the Norton installation) and deleting NCrypt.exe from your computer.”
Major Issues
All of this isn’t to defend Norton’s Ethereum miner. Past the minor issues that have been blown out of proportion, there are many that are unmistakably predatory. The first of which is the 15% pool fee that Norton Crypto charges.
Most Ethereum mining pools (even the largest ones like Spark Pool and EtherMine) only take a 1% fee from payments – 2% at most. Norton takes an incredulous 15% instead. When the costs of electricity alone can be equal to earnings, a 15% fee definitely isn’t helping in breaking even – much less making a profit. Which speaking of, users still have to pay for the additional energy bills incurred out of their own pocket. As if that wasn’t enough, Norton doesn’t cover any gas fees associated with selling or transferring Ethereum either. This has led to many complaints on the forums from people who are unable to withdraw their balance since the fees would exceed what they’d earned. All of this isn’t even accounting for Norton’s underlying subscription fees.
A mining software that could lose you money faster than you make it is worrisome, but the next issue isn’t something to ignore either. That’s the fact that Norton is exposing users who don’t understand how crypto works, into an extremely volatile and technical space. Cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs says: “[Norton Crypto] will be introducing millions of perhaps less-savvy Internet users to the world of cryptocurrency, which comes with its own set of unique security and privacy challenges that require users to “level up” their personal security practices in fairly significant ways.”
Final thoughts regarding Norton Crypto
While Norton’s crypto miner isn’t malware that will surreptitiously fry your PC, it’s still software that’s better left ignored or outright deleted. People who want to get into mining will benefit more from learning the fundamentals rather than taking a shortcut – and people who are already familiar with mining will already have other superior and cheaper pools to choose from.
With that being said, Norton Crypto may become obsolete anyway with Ethereum 2.0 drawing closer. The new Ethereum update will shift from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake, which will replace the complex energy-heavy process that’s currently employed in Ethereum mining (which includes Norton’s Ethereum miner).