In a somewhat unexpected pairing, Norton’s antivirus software will now help users mine a cryptocurrency of choice, Ethereum.

Norton is offering its customers a safe and reliable opportunity to mine cryptocurrency without exposing themselves to the risks inherent to the practice.

Once the cryptocurrency is generated, customers can track and transfer their earnings via a new feature called the Norton Crypto Wallet, stored in the cloud to keep it safe from hardware failure.

“We are proud to be the first consumer cyber safety company to offer coinminers 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 hasn’t given any information on the hardware setup potentially required for the mining process.

Crypto-mining software can require significant IT power – something Norton’s offering isn’t likely to escape.

Norton Crypto is currently being beta tested and should be available to all customers in the coming weeks.