Indeed Namecoin gets mined for free via AuxPOW in parallel mode while mining SHA-256 encoded currencies such as BTC and BCH. This is the only reason why Namecoin has survived until today without any practical usage. The worst thing is that all browser plugins for accessing .bit websites don't work anymore after the server operators of the OpenNIC project decided to take down the Namecoin resolution within the regular ICANN domain namespace. So Namecoin is almost dead due to the cumulative incompetence of those, who claim to be the personification of Namecoin, see my statements on Telegram and Bitcointalk.