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uTorrent Accused of Bundling Malware with BitTorrent Client (2015-05-05)
The popular torrent management software has been accused of installing a cryptocurrency miner along with new updates of its software. The accusations are quite serious as it would mean that uTorrent was actually hijacking users’ computers in order to make a profit.
There was uproar from the users after reports leaked that the torrent management service update was coming bundled with a program called Epic Scale, which is a Windows program that uses a computer’s processor to mine a kind of bitcoin variant called a “Litecoin.” According to technews, users remained unaware that their computers were being used to mine these Litecoins and only grew suspicious after their PCs began to run slow due to the load on the processor.
To clarify the misunderstanding, BitTorrent, uTorrent’s parent company, issued a statement recently addressing the issue. According to the company, the Microsoft program known as Epic Scale was being bundled with its software update, but it was not happening without the consent of the user. According to the statement, BitTorrent has reviewed the issue and has confirmed that there is no under the radar installations happening with its software. This means that users who are experiencing the recent influx in processor usage only have themselves to blame for not reading the user agreement during program installation.
Keeping in mind the amount of partner offers being offered up while installing various software programs, it shouldn’t come as a surprise if the uTorrent software comes with partner offers of its own. While BitTorrent made it clear that there were no installations being done without user content, the fact remains that software companies are increasingly using partner offers with their service downloads, and users just need to read the policy before they click on download.
On the other hand, there are those users who are crying foul, and are accusing the company of deliberately putting their computers at risk of botnet attacks. Bitcoin miners are a common occurrence nowadays. The program is a common way for botnet owners to make a profit off of the infected computers of unsuspecting users, and leaving those users to deal with the cost of having a slower processor. This is the reason for the bad reputation of mining software, and why users look to stay clear from software such as Epic Scale.
In the end, BitTorrent’s service is a popular torrent client which has an estimated 100 million users worldwide. The service is valued by users because of its relatively small footprint when it comes to processor use and its rich set of features that allows users to do a number of customizations to the service. And while according to technology blog, uTorrent has been including adware for quite some time now, even after warning users of its installations which try to charge users for the program. But, from the looks of it, it seems like this time, BitTorrent may have crossed the line.
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