John McAfee tried to send reporters phones with malware to hack WhatsApp

Here’s a crazy story to start the week. Apparently, John McAfee, the creator of the infamous anti-virus software, is hell-bent on proving he can crack WhatsApp’s encryption. In order to do this, he attempted to send reporters phones with malware pre-installed and then show them he was reading encrypted messages.

A couple of months ago, WhatsApp announced automatic encryption for all users. McAfee is apparently not impressed, but he’s unable to crack the encryption without cheating. The plan was to send two Samsung phones in sealed boxes to reporters. “Experts” would take the phones out of the boxes in front of the reporters. McAfee would then read the WhatsApp messages from a Skype call.

This elaborate scheme is to show the flaws in WhatsApp and Android. We’re not entirely sure why McAfee would go to such slimy lengths to do so. The good news is none of the reporters decided to cover the “story.” McAfee will find it hard to be taken seriously ever again.

[via Gizmodo]