The name McAfee is familiar to almost everyone in Israel, and many around the world. After all, this is the first antivirus in the world (or, at least, one of the first seven, all of which, coincidentally, came out in the same year), and one of the most common to this day. According to a survey conducted by Security.org website earlier this year, McAfee is the second most widely paid antivirus in the world with a market share of 24% (after Norton with 29%), and fourth among free antiviruses with a 10% share (after Windows Defender, which comes with all versions of Microsoft's operating system in recent years with a 39% share, Malwarebytes with a 14% share, and Avast with a 13% share). In Israel it is probably even more popular, since it comes with almost every new computer purchased here.
But not many people know the turbulent life story of antivirus inventor John McAfee. In honor of his 78th birthday (if he were alive), we used ChatGPT to briefly summarize his tumultuous resume.
John David McAfee was born on September 18, 1945 in the United Kingdom and raised in Virginia, USA. He entered the world of technology early in his career, working in his 20s as a programmer at NASA and companies such as Xerox and Lockheed. However, what brought him to prominence was not his work for these companies, but a companion product he created after discovering that the computer he was working on was infected with a virus. He created a virus detection and removal program called McAfee VirusScan, released it in late 1987 as shareware (a program with a basic free version for testing or limited capabilities, and a paid full version), and in 1989 he left Lockheed to work full-time for the young company named after him.
Although, as we noted at the beginning of the article, six other antivirus programs were released in the months surrounding McAfee's launch, that of the British-American programmer became a global standard, protecting millions of computers from the emerging threat of computer viruses. The company's success made McAfee wealthy, and he quickly became a prominent figure in the tech industry. Before the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, it was estimated to be worth about $100 million.
Despite his initial professional success, John McAfee's personal life was marked by turmoil and controversial conduct. In 2008, he moved to the Central American state of Belize, and was soon surrounded by rumors of drug abuse, involvement in criminal organizations and bizarre behavior that included wild debauchery parties. In 2012, he found himself implicated in a murder case in the country after his neighbor was shot with a shotgun and he became a suspect. Although not charged, he fled Belize on the grounds that the whole thing was an excuse to arrest and assassinate him, and tried to seek asylum in various countries.
For years, he moved from country to country, aided by a small army of bodyguards who smuggled him from place to place, using 'bait' (i.e., car convoys or flights registered in his name but in fact containing only people not directly related to him), disguises and repeated tweets of mockery against the authorities who failed to capture him. He also tried to run from hiding for the Libertarian Party presidency in 2016 and 2020, focusing on drug legalization, gun encouragement and cryptocurrency.
Even his biggest venture, the antivirus company, he abandoned in 1994 when he sold all his shares, and in the decades that followed he harshly criticized it for becoming "the worst software in the world." In 2013, he posted a YouTube video with instructions on how to completely remove the software from his computer. In 2014, he thanked Intel, which announced that 4 years after acquiring the company, it would begin selling its products under the Intel Security name. However, the move failed completely and Intel soon sold the company, reviving the McAfee brand. He was even sued by Intel after starting a new company under his name in 2016.
Spanish authorities finally got their hands on him in 2021, and he was arrested awaiting extradition to the United States. Despite declaring several times that he would never commit suicide, a month after his arrest he allegedly committed suicide in a prison cell. His third wife claimed on social media and in interviews that it was an assassination, and many of his loyal followers believe.
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