Anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee slams federal cybersecurity proposal

Cybersecurty expert and Libertarian presidential aspirant John McAfee isn’t being taken very seriously in political circles. That has much to do with his recent well-publicized personal troubles and eccentric attitude. But when it comes to the cybersecurity matters upon which he’s based his presidential platform, McAfee is dead on about government’s inability to protect online networks.

President Barack Obama recently revealed his “Cybersecurity National Action Plan,” which would allot $19 billion in government spending and appoint a “Cyber Czar” tasked with enhancing the safety of the nation’s vulnerable information and infrastructure networks.

McAfee, who is the mind behind the first widely available commercial anti-virus software, says no amount of government spending is going to fix the U.S.’s increasingly apparent cybersecurity problems until Washington sets its priorities straight.

The nation’s security experts, he contends, should end efforts to exploit technology to spy on citizens and fully focus on hedging against outside cyber threats.

“Basically the government as it exists is too incompetent to implement such as thing,” McAfee told a reporter for Infowars. “They don’t have the people.”

And there’s plenty of evidence to back his appraisal.

As we reported earlier in the week, the Department of Homeland Security hasn’t been able to match the security power of commercial cybersecurity software after having its best and brightest work to develop a system for nearly 15 years. That failed project cost taxpayers $5.7 billion.

According to McAfee, the government’s technological ineptitude is putting the nation at serious risk.

“I think cybersecurity is the greatest issue that we have today because the next war is not going to be fought primarily with bombs, battleships and airplanes but with someone in China pushing a button and our infrastrure instantly disappears,” he said. “We won’t have any power, emergency services… food production will end and with it food distribution.”

McAfee originally entered the 2016 political scene as a fringe candidate representing his self-formed Cyber Party. But difficulty securing ballot access throughout the nation has since led him to seek Libertarian support.

The post Anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee slams federal cybersecurity proposal appeared first on Personal Liberty®.