Security News > 2022 > January > Avira also mines imaginary internet money on customers' PCs

Germany-based security biz Avira's antivirus has enabled a new feature: "Avira Crypto".

As NortonLifeLock also bought Avast last year, it will be interesting to see if its owner's new-found fondness for imaginary internet money will soften Avast's strong anti-cryptocurrency-mining stance.

Amusingly, if Avast should start grassing up its sister products, there is precedent for that: at one point Avira flagged up itself as malware.

Moves like these are signs of the continuing consolidation in the antivirus market, since Microsoft bought GeCAD and Giant, started offering its own freeware antivirus for Windows XP, Vista and 7, then bundled it, to the ire of other antivirus vendors.

The real problem is that things like browser toolbars bring in more revenue than freeware antivirus, especially when the OS vendor throws in a serviceable-enough antivirus program for nothing.

Instead, why not use under-utilised PCs to mine pretend internet ransom-payment tokens? Paid home antivirus mainly sells to people who are not very tech-literate, especially senior citizens.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/01/10/avira_ethereum/