John McAfee’s Gift: Spyware-Laced Laptops for Police

John McAfee (1945–2021) was a British-American computer programmer and entrepreneur best known for founding McAfee Associates in 1987, where he developed one of the world’s first commercial antivirus software programs, revolutionizing cybersecurity during the early days of widespread computer viruses.

Born in England to an American father and British mother, he overcame a turbulent childhood marked by his father’s alcoholism and suicide, earned a mathematics degree, and held early jobs at companies like NASA, Xerox, and Lockheed before spotting the virus threat and building his empire.

After selling his stake in the company in the mid-1990s and amassing significant wealth, McAfee’s life took increasingly eccentric turns: he became a vocal critic of his own former software (calling it bloatware), embraced a hedonistic lifestyle involving drugs and firearms, fled Belize amid murder suspicions in 2012, ran unsuccessfully for U.S. president as a Libertarian in 2016 and 2020, promoted cryptocurrencies, and faced U.S. charges for tax evasion and fraud. He died by suicide via hanging in a Spanish prison in June 2021, shortly after extradition to the U.S. was approved, though his death sparked persistent conspiracy theories; in recent years, his legacy has been invoked through posthumous projects like a 2025 memecoin on his reactivated social media accounts.

Laptops Infected With Spyware For Police

During his tumultuous residence in Belize in the early 2010s, John McAfee, the eccentric antivirus software pioneer, reportedly donated cheap laptops to government officials and police departments as part of his efforts to curry favor or mend relations amid escalating tensions with local authorities, including after a 2012 raid on his compound by the Gang Suppression Unit.

Antivirus King Spies on Cops with “Generous” Laptops

According to McAfee’s own claims in interviews and blog posts (such as those covered by outlets like Graham Cluley and SiliconANGLE in 2013–2014), he deliberately pre-infected these computers with keylogging spyware and remote access malware before distributing them, allowing him to monitor keystrokes, steal passwords, access microphones and cameras, and track communications among Belizean police and politicians. He asserted this surveillance network helped him evade capture by anticipating police movements and uncover alleged corruption, including passport sales and ties to criminal elements—though these admissions were self-reported, unverified by independent evidence, and came during his fugitive period following suspicions in his neighbor’s murder, casting doubt on their full accuracy amid his pattern of sensational storytelling. This episode highlighted the irony of the man who built an empire on cybersecurity using illicit digital tactics against those in power.