We learn today that McAfee's Virusscan is officially one of the most influential technology products of the last 25 years. The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) names the product in its Top Ten, alongside Internet Explorer, the iPod and the Blackberry.

Considering for a moment the presence of the above derivative products in the list and the absence of Netscape (or even Mosaic), the Sony Walkman and perhaps even the CAT scanner, the Compact Disc, digital radio and TV, pro-celebrity female mud wrestling and alcopops, we can see that the judges were perhaps untroubled by any tedious connection to reality.

The real innovation in the virus sector is surely carried out by the virus writers themselves. The antivirus operators like Kapersky, Symantec and McAfee are merely following their lead and talking up the risks, while cynically preying on people's paranoia to sell their products and their attractively-priced subscription services.

This business model is made all the easier by lazy hacks cutting and pasting the latest virus shock, horror press release into what passes as a news story on sites such as, ooh, let's pick one at random, the BBC.

When McAfee director Vimal Solanki tells us that "Over the past 18 years, McAfee VirusScan has become almost synonymous with the phrase 'computer security'", we obviously have to give him a massive vote of thanks. When he continues: "As cybercrime has become more sophisticated, we have had to increase our portfolio to offer broad endpoint, network, data, web, and email protection solutions, to name just a portion of our security risk management portfolio," we are at once tempted to reach for both a thesaurus and our chequebooks.

Let me make myself perfectly clear: Viruses, malware and assorted script kiddery, hacking and cracking are within the demesne of some of the most odious weasels that have ever walked the Earth. In their defence, these weasels usually just do it for the technical challenge and the bragging rights.

But the antivirus companies are only in it for the money. It's in their interest to maintain the paranoia levels at Elevated Red Six. They don't want to stamp out viruses, they just want your money. If they found a cure for the common cold, it's quite possible they'd withhold it and sell you cold remedies for the rest of your life instead. µ

L'INQ
CompTIA