Here's a Coincidence

Although widespread virus outbreaks may be a thing of the past, the total amount of malicious software being written is on the rise, according to McAfee. On Tuesday, McAfee vendor added the 200,000th definition to its threat database, and the security vendor expects the total number of identified threats to double in another two years. McAfee's antivirus products use these definitions as digital fingerprints to determine which software should not be allowed to run on a user's PC.

What is the coincidence, you ask? I thought I heard you asking. The coincidence is that McAfee, the company that "delivers world-class retail and online solutions designed to secure, protect and optimize the computers of consumers and home office users" is telling us that the amount of malicious software is going to increase. In other words, they write the software that protects your computer from viruses, and they are telling us that there will be more viruses.

Hello?

Do you think, for even a minute, that McAfee could be somehow subsidizing the hackers that are writing the viruses? Why else would an enterprising young hacker write up a virus routine? For the money? Maybe. My cynical nature takes over and tells me that the company that is responsible for virus protection could be kept in business by subsidizing the people who write the viruses. I don't think it's that hard to comprehend.

Between Symantec (the brains behind Norton) and McAfee, I wonder if they aren't responsible for most of the viruses that we pay them to protect us from. I know it's poor sentence structure, but can you prove me wrong?