SecureLine VPN for Mac

We have noticed today that (Mac) machines with avast that have updated to version 10.13 have downloaded and installed Avast SecureLine VPN. Has anyone else noticed this? Looks like it has a 7 day free trial. We are using the educational version of avast for Mac. Is this a paid service or will this be free? Is there way to bypass this? We have a University VPN already installed on our machines.

https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=169059.0

I’m frankly amazed and appalled that Avast stooped to this kind of sleazy practice to sell its VPN package. A popup advertising it would have been one thing. But installing it without the user’s knowledge or consent and then popping up alarming messages to get him/her to approve activation is a crapware practice not usually seen in the Mac world.