TKO - Built for disaster

OK... I don't know what to think about this . Exactly where does Intel position McAfee in their portfolio? I guess I will see a ton of posts on this in days to follow. But right now I have not got a clue... Update 2010-08-24: Thank you, arstechnica, coming to my rescue and bringing some sense into the acquisition. Quote: "The company thinks that they can do security better than a software vendor alone could, and they believe this because they know that security is about systems—not just hardware or software, but services, practices, policies, and user experiences and expectations." By keeping McAfee as a branded subsidiary they probably feel they will have an edge owning the whole chain up to the customer. But what happens if AV becomes the weakest link in the chain, if McAfee loses momentum and some other AV manufacturers run much faster? Are the customers bound to stick to McAfee/Intel products because they are so closely knitted together?

Lately there has been debate and discussions on Wikileaks and the controversy of publishing information on US Force's behavior in Afghanistan. The leak has been pointed out as Bradley Manning, a US Army Intelligence Analyst. Now new informations has come out saying Adrian Lamo, who turned in Manning, is a member of the highly secretive organization called Project Vigilant . How credible they are, I can't answer, but it seems they have been given a huge mandate to work "behind the scenes" and the leaders of this pack are Homeland Security, NSA, DOJ etc seniors... Makes you scared, huh? But I when I was directed to this interview on BBC , which includes commentary from the beforementioned hacker Adrian Lamo, my heart truly skipped a few beats. What if all the voluntary guys and gals are like him? What do they get fed? I can't think their fringe benefits can be healthy...