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Zone Labs: Anatomy of a Coverup

How angels stay clean and scandals stay silent.

Part Five - M3*

This isn't the first time John McAfee has implemented M3 - The McAfee Money Machine. He did it back in the heydays of anti-virus software. He polished his technique back then so that today the scenario looks like this:

  1. Find a cash cow (personal firewalls) and buy into a vendor (Zone Alarm).
  2. Create an 'independent' product testing laboratory (Gibson Research Corporation).
  3. Create an 'independent' journalistic attention-getting outlet (Gibson Research Corporation).
  4. Watch the market closely and create hysteria.

1. Find a cash cow and buy into a vendor

It is not known when John McAfee decided personal firewalls were the cash cow of the future. Gregor Freund was out very early with his patent application for TrueVector technology - the application was filed in May 1997. John McAfee entered the Zone Labs boardroom first on 2 October 2000.

2. Create an 'independent' product testing laboratory
3. Create an 'independent' journalistic attention-getting outlet

Gibson and McAfee were old partners in crime. Gibson's site was an infrequently visited site, but Gibson had the necessary journalistic credentials (and Sesame Street flair) to do the job.

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