- John McAfee created one of the most popular antivirus programs.
- He was found dead in a Spanish prison last year.
- From millionaire to the fugitive, a man the tech world will always remember
Born in Britain, his parents moved to the US when he was young. He worked with NASA, Lockheed Martin, General Electric, and Xerox. After the first computer virus was reported, McAfee worked on building an antivirus program, and in 1987, McAfee VirusScan was born. The launch of the program led to the formation of a multi-billion dollar antivirus industry.
An entrepreneurial and quirky mind
During his early days, he started a magazine that was free but the customers had to pay for the shipment and handling charges.
He resigned from McAfee in 1994. In 1996, he sold his shares making $100 million. McAfee’s fortune shrank from $100 million to $4 million after the 2008 financial crisis. In 2010, McAfee was bought by Intel for $7.6 billion. He was named the CEO of MGT Capital, an investment firm in 2015.
In 2013, he was featured in a video in which he was showing how to uninstall McAfee antivirus! In 2016 and 2020 he ran for president – unsuccessfully – with the slogan “Here’s to the crazy ones”. He ran as a libertarian.
Alcohol, drugs, fleeing US authorities
In 2012, he escaped the Belize police who came to question him about his dead neighbor. He was cleared later on in the case.
McAfee struggled with drugs and alcohol for a long time before seeking professional help via Alcoholics Anonymous. In 2013, he married his third and last wife Janice Dyson; he claimed to have fathered 47 children in January 2020.
McAfee was indicted for tax evasion in 2020 by the US government’s Department of Justice and later in the same year, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged him for promoting Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) without properly disclosing that he received money to promote the coins. In October 2020, he was arrested in Spain.
In June 2021, Spain approved his extradition to the US. He was found dead in his prison cell later on.
His wife Janice tweeted on his birthday:
The Netflix series ‘‘Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee’’ is based on his time evading authorities in Belize and Guatemala.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/09/19/john-mcafee-remembering-the-pioneer-of-cybersecurity/