Malwarebytes researchers recently discovered that adware apps embed bitcoin mining software*, which is installed without users' knowledge, along with legitimate apps.
Most of the time, Bitcoin mining is done without the user's consent. However, in this case, the process is provided for by the advertising company's application license, which installs the Bitcoin mining utility along with the main software that the user seeks to use.
Bitcoin mining requires the exploitation of a large part of the system resources and the result on an average computer can drop the performance even to half of its capabilities. For this purpose, special bitcoin mining machines have been developed.
The process that causes the slowdown is called “jh1c.exe” and is part of the mining software ” jhProtominer”.
Most antivirus products include detection of PUP/PUA (Potentially unwanted programs/applications), so users are advised to have this option enabled in order to prevent the installation of unwanted applications on their computer.
*Bitcoin production is carried out through a process referred to as mining (mining).
