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

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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. 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.

I’m not sure I’ve heard of a crazier life than that of John McAfee. From the young age of 15 he was a killer. Of his own dad, nonetheless. His dad, father, the man who created him, and the same man who drunkenly beat him night after night. He wanted to find truth through the lies and healing through the pain that was John McAfee’s life. He thought that through the confusion surrounding John, he could find clarity within himself.I was just thinking of the trip, thinking of the woman who was raped that I now believed, and it just came to a head. I was like, 'I can't do this anymore'," Foster says. "John freaked out, was yelling at me calling me names and saying 'you're not a writer, you're pathetic'. So I said the last thing I ever said to him, and from six months spending time with him, I knew him on a cellular level, I think I knew him better than most people, and I just I let it off. I was like, 'This is who I think you really are'.

Finishing this book, we discern that it’s the selfishness, betrayal, and loss within himself that keep him from the oneness, truth, and beauty of love for himself and others. This book is so beautiful, so raw, and so haunting. If you want to reconnect with your humanity, see all the unseen people in the world, and watch the way a powerful and wounded John McAfee directs his own personal circus of guns, drugs, and henchmen, you should read this book. I couldn’t put it down, and to be honest, I had no particular interest in John McAfee’s story.

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. 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. 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 said he lived in peace, yet a piece in him was missing. The puzzle piece of selfless love, which marks the red X on the jigsaw of 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. None of these Foster believed, telling us simply: "That's very elaborate. Why not just kill John? That doesn't make any sense." He ultimately theorises the tech whizz paid someone to kill Faull, rather than doing it himself. Note: The following article contains discussion of themes including suicide and sexual assault that some readers may find upsetting. 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 Foster felt misunderstood for as long as he could remember. When he tried to help, others would recoil. When he tried to show kindness, others would show malice. He was surrounded by the culture of transactions instead of his operating system of acceptance and love. 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. 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. It wasn’t until Alex Cody Foster became the unsuspecting ghost writer for John that he grew to learn how similar the two really were. Fortunately and more importantly, after 6 months of working for John, Alex was also able to discern where their similarities ended and stark differences began. Spears’ vulnerability shines through as she describes her painful journey from vulnerable girl to empowered woman.

Was Alex bad for trying to kill this man in the first place, or was he even worse for not finishing the job and therefore allowing what almost happened to him to surely happen to others in the future?

Professionals similar to Alex Cody

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. 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,” Yates said. 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. Mcafee saw life as a game of winners and losers. Of 1’s and 0’s, reality and fiction, give and take. John saw the world as selfish and ruthless, because that’s what surrounded him. Yet his ego told him that he had life figured out. He was rich, smart, and seemingly successful based on his long list of worldly accomplishments. 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.