Norton to rollout cryptominer for Ethereum

U.S.-based cybersecurity software company Norton LifeLock announced Wednesday the launch of Norton Crypto, a new feature designed to enable consumers to safely and easily mine cryptocurrency through its trusted Norton 360 platform.

Starting this week, select Norton 360 customers in Norton’s early adopter program will be invited to mine for Ethereum.

“We are proud to be the first consumer Cyber Safety company to offer coin miners the ability to safely and easily turn the idle time on their PCs into an opportunity to earn digital currency,” said Vincent Pilette, CEO of Norton LifeLock.

“As the crypto economy continues to become a more important part of our customers’ lives, we want to empower them to mine cryptocurrency with Norton, a brand they trust,” Pilette added.

“Norton Crypto is yet another innovative example of how we are expanding our Cyber Safety platform to protect our customers’ ever-evolving digital lives.”

For years, many coin miners have had to take risks in their quest for cryptocurrency, disabling their security to run coin mining and allowing unvetted code on their machines that could be skimming from their earnings or even planting ransomware.

Earnings are commonly stored directly on miners’ hard drives, where their digital wallet could be lost should it fail.

Norton Crypto delivers a secure, reliable way for consumers to mine for Ethereum without opening themselves and their devices up to these pitfalls. Once cryptocurrency has been earned, customers can track and transfer earnings into their Norton Crypto Wallet, which is stored in the cloud so it cannot be lost due to hard drive failure.

“We are proud to be the first consumer Cyber Safety company to offer coin miners the ability to safely and easily turn the idle time on their PCs into an opportunity to earn digital currency,” said Gagan Singh, chief product officer at NortonLifeLock. “With Norton Crypto, our customers can mine for cryptocurrency with just a few clicks, avoiding many barriers to entry in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.”

Norton Crypto is expected to become available to all Norton 360 customers1 in the coming weeks.