Antivirus software pioneer: Smartphones are 'spies'

John McAfee, a pioneer in the antivirus software field, made a surprise appearance at the Def Con hacker conference last Friday to warn about spying activities by smartphone apps.

McAfee has had some legendary experiences overseas in recent years. After discovering that his neighbor in Belize was killed, he fled abroad. Belize police suspected him of murder. He then flew to Guatemala and then pretended to have a heart attack to be allowed to return to the United States.

"I may have had some interesting things happen to me," McAfee said at Def Con, "but the most interesting thing that happened to me was from Intel. They decided to take my name off the product."

Intel spent more than $7 billion to acquire the McAfee antivirus software company in 2010. That year, Intel announced that it would rename the product "Intel Security" after McAfee said he would no longer use the product. Intel executives said they knew McAfee was no longer using McAfee, but refused to admit that the name change decision was related to that.

When it comes to privacy and security, McAfee said smartphones are spying on American consumers, who don't read the user agreement carefully before using their phones. "The best privacy protection is a dumb phone," he said. "I threw away all my smartphones."

McAfee said he has started Borwnlist.com to collect complaints about big companies and has developed an Android app that tracks the privacy permissions of apps.

However, in a place full of hackers, no software seems to be safe.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.