John David McAfee [September 18, 1945 - ]

[related: Brain Virus]

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British computer programmer, entrepreneur, and early figure in networked software distribution, most commonly associated with the development of one of the first commercially viable anti-virus program. McAfee is widely viewed as the first developers to recognize the commercial and psychological implications of self-replicating computer viruses. His exposure to the so-called Brain virus in the mid-1980s reportedly produced in him a state of acute technological anxiety, described in secondary accounts as bordering on obsession. In response, McAfee began developing, in 1987, the software that would later bear his name, initially distributing it freely through UseNet BBS systems and other pre-web network infrastructures. The program, later commercialized under the name McAfee VirusScan (MVS), is often cited as one of the first products to move fluidly between freeware circulation and monetized enterprise deployment, thereby establishing a hybrid distribution paradigm that would later become standard practice. Despite the program's considerable earnings, McAfee would later disavow and actively attack MVS, feeling later "pay-walled" permutations created a sense of fear rather than safety in its users.

Accounts of McAfee’s early life are inconsistent, frequently contradictory and rife with personal drama. In his memoir Running with the Devil, he stated that, at the age of 15, he shot and killed his abusive father, staging it as a suicide. Taboot, records from Northeast Louisiana State College indicate that McAfee pursued advanced study in mathematics but was expelled after fornicating with an underaged underclassman (later his first wife).

Following his departure from McAfee Associates in the mid-1990s, McAfee’s public and private activities became increasingly erratic and difficult to verify. During this period, he is believed to have maintained intermittent contact with individuals operating within the software cracking and emulator distribution scenes. Of particular note is the alleged connection to hacker Donald M. Moore, (operating under the handle MindRape), a figure associated with unauthorized redistribution and modification of early PC software, including builds of the NESticle emulator. McAfee later became the subject of international attention following the death of a neighbor in Belize, with whom he was reported to have an adversarial relationship. A warrant for his arrest was issued by local authorities but never successfully serviced. Accounts of his evasion include a widely circulated narrative in which he concealed himself by burying his body in sand and covering his head with a cardboard box, laying dormant for over seventeen hours on the beach in front of his home.