Skip to main content

Antivirus software creator, eccentric millionaire, and fugitive John McAfee for president

john mcafee for president 2016  how no one got laid on ashley madison thumb
It’s the presidential race that just keeps on giving, and if you’ve never followed politics before, this certainly feels like the year to do it. The bid for the highest office in the land already includes a, shall we say, diverse set of candidates. There’s the real estate mogul turned reality show star whose popularity grows with the frequency of his offensive statements; the self-proclaimed socialist from Vermont; the conjoined twin-separating neurosurgeon; and oh, let’s not forget the former First Lady turned senator turned Secretary of State who somehow can’t escape the shadow of her emails. And now, let’s add one more to the mix: the “eccentric millionaire,” antivirus software creator, and fugitive, John McAfee. Yes, John McAfee is running for president in 2016. If you’re not looking forward to 2016, you don’t know what fun is.

We will have an official announcement at 7:00pm eastern time tomorrow (Wednesday)

Related Videos

— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) September 8, 2015

First announced in an interview with Wired on Tuesday afternoon, McAfee, the creator of the first ever commercial antivirus program, has now officially filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission, and is a bonafide third party candidate for the White House. He’s even created a name for his party — the Cyber Party, which certainly makes sense given his background. His campaign website, McAfee16.com, was also launched Tuesday evening (though there’s not much there yet), and despite being in the nascent stages of his campaign, McAfee is already extremely confident in his chances. “I have a huge underground following on the Web,” McAfee told CNN. “I promise you I will win because I have the votes.”

Anti-virus software maker John McAfee is running for President http://t.co/24E6wFxVzU via @TIMEPolitics

— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) September 9, 2015

Unsurprisingly, McAfee’s platform is one that focuses primarily on technology and the shortcomings of the American government thus far in coming to terms with the digital age. Pointing to recent data breaches of large federal organizations (think the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and Department of Homeland Security), McAfee expressed his frustration over what he called government’s “illiteracy” on the subject.

“Things like this cannot happen or should not happen,” he told Wired. “It’s clear that the leadership of our country is illiterate on the fundamental technology that supports everything in life for us now, that is cyber science, our smartphones, our military hardware, our communications.”

Granted, McAfee himself admits that his policy scope is rather narrow, and that he has not followed many of the other candidates (or their politics) thus far in the race. He was, however, very complimentary of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in his interview with CNN, calling them both “very smart.” Trump, however, is his major competitor, as McAfee noted, “If I didn’t enter, he would’ve won.”

Regardless, McAfee seems to be set on running a clean campaign, with a focus on his area of expertise and making the U.S. safer in terms of cybersecurity. “I’m not entering this race to compete with other people,” McAfee said to CNN. “I’m not going to sling mud at people or run as anyone other than myself.” If only it worked that way.

Editors' Recommendations

WhatsApp’s online backups are getting end-to-end encryption
The WhatsApp logo.

Facebook is tightening WhatsApp's security by extending end-to-end encryption (E2EE) to cloud backups via an update to the app on iOS and Android. This was already allowed this on local WhatsApp backups, but the company will extend these security tools to online backups made to iCloud and Google Drive.

"Starting today, we are making available an extra, optional layer of security to protect backups stored on Google Drive or iCloud with end-to-end encryption. No other global messaging service at this scale provides this level of security for their users' messages, media, voice messages, video calls, and chat backup," the WhatsApp team shared this week.

Read more
T-Mobile confirms hack, investigates whether customer data was stolen
A T-Mobile store.

T-Mobile has confirmed that its computer systems were accessed without permission and says it's now conducting an investigation to determine the full extent of the hack.

The announcement follows claims on Sunday, August 15, that a hacker was in possession of data belonging to 100 million T-Mobile customers and was trying to sell it via an underground forum.

Read more
Microsoft Teams will now protect you against phishing attacks
A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

One of the dangers of the internet involves clicking links. Even if it appears to be from a trusted source, you never know where a URL might take you once you visit it. That's why Microsoft is now rolling out phishing protections in Microsoft Teams, so you can worry less about hackers stealing your sensitive information with look-alike links and web pages.

With remote and hybrid work models seeing an increase and Teams use booming over the last year, Microsoft says this latest Teams feature is all about ensuring Teams is "the most secure real-time collaboration platform." Officially known as Safe Links, the new Teams feature is powered by Microsoft Defender for Office 365. Under the hood, it works by scanning a URL once it is clicked in Teams to make sure it is legitimate and trusted.

Read more