I think your right. I have become more paranoid since using BTC. It provides an incentive for crooks to get into my network. The powerful incentive of cash. I also like Linux more. Windows machines seem to always be running that CPU doing God knows what.
It is not about paranoia if you ask me. People that are tech savy and familiar with their own hardware and software should notice this. I have noticed CPU usage spikes and the fan turning on (usually off if usage under 10%) while it is idle. My laptop has a i7 U variant and at night running nothing but the VPN and IRC I can hear it sometimes. Who knows what it is doing.