The Man Who Hacked the World: A Ghostwriter’s Descent into Madness with John McAfee

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She looked at me seriously. "No," she said. "This is very impressive, and trust me, it takes a lot to impress me, kid. How old are you?" But it wasn’t the crazy stories of John McAfee that I’m still thinking of a few days after finishing this book. What stayed with me is how people can disassociate from the world of love and emotion, claiming it’s the world of reality and truth and individuality that are the only things there for you in the end. Trying to find this ‘better’ within John McAfee, he spent the craziest 6 months of his life living along side one of the most wanted and infamous men in the world. He thought he could understand himself better through understanding the enigma of John McAfee. I'm an obsessive perfectionist, holding myself to a nearly impossible standard. I strive to turn each project into a masterpiece, perfecting the client's voice and using my honed interviewing skills to get to the very heart and soul of the story; telling it in a way that will capture the attention of any audience.

John, a computer programmer saw life as purely rational. He said though he loved his wife dearly, he would never die for her nor anyone else. He said one would be stupid for dying for another, because in the end we are all, every single one of us, inherently selfish beings.Despite the adrenaline rush of being a guest witness to this life and lifestyle, everyone has a line that they draw. For Foster, this finally came in the latter half of 2018, when he became privy to a rape accusation against McAfee from a trusted source, of someone he had befriended over the course of his research and investigation into the businessman's life. In an exclusive chat with Digital Spy, Foster reveals the one hour and 45 minute documentary barely scratches the surface of what he experienced in the presence of McAfee. As a ghostwriter, Foster's work involved him writing as McAfee – and as a man who takes his work seriously, this involved months of interviews and time with him to write his point of view. In exchange, McAfee had to give Foster a no-holds-barred insight into his life. Foster was raised by his mother and father, though he was barely raised at all. His mother was seemingly bipolar, though undiagnosed and unrecognized by her. His father was an alcoholic and an abuser, much like John’s. Alex never felt at home, though he had a house and a family. Alex never felt understood, though he thought his intentions were pure.

Note: The following article contains discussion of themes including suicide and sexual assault that some readers may find upsetting. John McAfee was a superwealthy antivirus software entrepreneur, a third-place contender for the 2016 Libertarian Party presidential nomination, and an internationally notorious scoundrel, drug user, and accused murderer who died in a Spanish prison in 2021. His death was declared a suicide, though he had preemptively declared both publicly and privately that if he died in custody, his friends should assume he had been murdered. In a cyber-netherworld, he allegedly commercialised the wholesale theft of financial and personal information through this virus, which he sold to other cyber-criminals. Since Bendellaj’s incarceration, US law enforcement officers said they have dismantled Darkode and have filed criminal charges against a dozen individuals associated with the forum.

In one chilling moment on one of Foster's tapes, McAfee seemingly alludes to the idea he murdered his abusive father at the age of 17, getting away with the killing for decades, seemingly without consequence. In this debut memoir, a ghostwriter steps out from behind the scenes to paint a portrait of his larger-than-life subject. This is a milestone in our efforts to shut down criminals’ ability to buy, sell, and trade malware, botnets, and personally identifiable information used to steal from US citizens and individuals around the world,” said FBI Deputy Director Mark Giuliano.

McAfee is an eccentric, larger-than-life character who laughs and embraces the moniker of being a 'real life version of Batman's Joker' when approached with the comparison in Running With The Devil. He's a man that knows his wealth gives him a level of protection to the point he could potentially get away with anything. It doesn't take long, or much of a push, to think this could include murder.This book leads us to an examination within ourselves, wondering what differentiates John, who killed his father to save himself and his mother, from Alex, who threatened to kill his dad but never did. In the film, he brands McAfee "the most brilliant, manipulative person he's ever met", and during our discussion, this is echoed in his memories with him. The documentary is a ride from beginning to end, rarely glorifying the twisted world McAfee had created for himself and showing it for the dangerous life it truly was. It's also somewhat teamed with unreliable narrators – the women who loved McAfee, those who downplayed their involvement, those who want to draw a line underneath it and move on and, for conspiracy theorists, those in power who are hiding what happened. He tells a story in the book of how he once held his arm against a boiling pot to see if love or pain was greater within him. As his skin reddened and blistered by the heat of the pot, in minutes it became numb and his arm, and pain, could barely be felt. It was the feeling of love for his girlfriend that kept him going up to that point, and from then on, Alex knew that love was the most powerful emotion of all.

This book starts with the story of the author, Alex Cody Foster and his meandering journey through life on his path towards closure from the past and a hope of freedom for the future. One night, John got tired of his dad’s abuse towards him and his mother, and decided to end his father’s life with the pull of a trigger. From that moment on, John knew what hatred, death, pain, betrayal, and heartache felt like. So really, I guess the answer is no," he added. "But they did the best job they possibly could have, because no one and nothing could ever truly capture the essence of such a person."

Death sentence rumors

A year later, Janice is still campaigning for the release of McAfee's body and the autopsy report from Spanish authorities, so she can conduct her own private investigation. Alex, a lost soul found by the love of stories, writing, and companionship, on the other hand says he would die for a loved one. He can be so genuine and so real, so poetic… but he could also be so dark, so paranoid, and so dangerous."