McAfee is McAfee again, promises security with kum ba yah

LOGO WATCH McAfee is McAfee again: the security company that Intel thought was worth US$7.68bn in 2010 and then sold 51 per cent of for $3.1bn in 2016 is now independent once more.

McAfee LLC's new CEO, a chap named Christopher D. Young, has penned a letter setting out his stall.

It's a minor masterpiece of ShinyHappyCorpSpeak™, starting with the premise that “Our connected world is under siege by adversaries threatening the digital freedom sacred to us all.”

Next we get “The McAfee we unveil today points to a future of promise, as it stands on this foundation of leadership” and some “our employees are our greatest asset” stuff.

But there's also some interesting nuggets, such as the admission that “We realize that even one of the largest cybersecurity companies can’t go it alone” and a pledge to start selling “cybersecurity outcomes, not fragmented products.”

Young declares McAfee 3.0^* an entity “... that vows to move this industry forward by working with competitors, not just partners.”

If that co-operative stuff is real it could be interesting. But we're not holding out much hope because the letter also says “We believe the threat defense lifecycle is better when orchestrated as a unified system.”

Thats hard to argue against. But also damnably hard to execute, especially if it involves multiple products from diverse sources. Let's see how it plays out, shall we? And while we do so, let's also consider the company's new SLOGO^** (visible here for mobile readers), which the company says “features two interlocking frames that form an open and unified shield, an element long associated with the McAfee brand.”

“The new design reflects our belief that Together is power, a concept so central to the new McAfee brand that we have adopted it as our tagline,” the brand blurb continues. “To depict our pledge to help customers defend all that matters, you'll see us use the shield to surround images that convey the connected world and the need to protect all aspects of it. A refreshed shade of red, a color strongly associated with both the McAfee brand and power itself, offers a timeless reminder of our enduring commitment to a cybersecurity marketplace we've served for more than two decades.”

So now we know what McAfee's up to. And that whatever you do for a living, it's probably paid worse, but far more sincere than writing brand blurbs. ®

^* McAfee 1.0: McAfee before acquisition. 2.0: McAfee while called Intel Security. 3.0: new McAfee

^** That's a combination slogan and logo, for the uninitiated among you