File photo - Computer software pioneer John McAfee speaks with reporters outside his hotel in Miami Beach, Florida December 13, 2012.(REUTERS/Joe Skipper)
Famed anti-virus maker John McAfee, who has a flair for the bizarre, recently injected himself into the ongoing debate surrounding Apple's refusal to create a software backdoor that would enable the FBI to access an iPhone 5c used by one of the San Bernardino shooters.
In the wake of Tim Cook penning a letter warning of the dangerous precedent that would be set if Apple acquiesced to the court order in question, McAfee stepped up to the plate with an offer to decrypt the terrorist's iPhone 5c free of charge.
DON'T MISS: Legendary iPhone hacker weighs in on Apple's war with the FBI
In an op-ed posted to BusinessInsider Thursday, McAfee said that the FBI's demand, coupled with the corresponding court order, marks the "end of the US as a world power."
"No matter how you slice this pie, if the government succeeds in getting this back door, it will eventually get a back door into all encryption, and our world, as we know it, is over," McAfee added. "In spite of the FBI's claim that it would protect the back door, we all know that's impossible. There are bad apples everywhere, and there only needs to be in the US government. Then a few million dollars, some beautiful women (or men), and a yacht trip to the Caribbean might be all it takes for our enemies to have full access to our secrets."
Okay, there's nothing too wild just yet, but this is McAfee we're talking about so you might want to buckle up.
Later on in his op-ed, McAfee says that he works the best hackers in the business, "prodigies" he calls them. Working together, McAfee claims that his motley crew of hackers, relying primarily upon social engineering techniques, would be able to break iPhone encryption in just three weeks.
"I would eat my shoe on the Neil Cavuto show if we could not break the encryption on the San Bernardino phone. This is a pure and simple fact."
"So here is my offer to the FBI. I will, free of
charge, decrypt the information on the San Bernardino phone, with my team. We will primarily use social engineering, and it will take us three weeks. If you accept my offer, then you will not need to ask Apple to place a back door in its product, which will be the beginning of the end of America."
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