Elizabeth Weise, and Jon Swartz

USA TODAY

SAN FRANCISCO — Shares of a small tech firm soared 34% on news John McAfee, the computer antivirus legend and Libertarian party presidential candidate who once spent several months on the run fearing assassins, has been proposed as its CEO.

McAfee confirmed the appointment in a phone interview with USA TODAY on Monday.

MGT Capital Investments, a Harrison, N.Y.-based tech firm with investments in fantasy sports and mobile games, will be rebranded as John McAfee Global Technologies, according to a release. The company's (MGT) stock jumped to $0.49 in trading Monday.

McAfee, in an interview, said the company should be renamed soon after approval from MGT's board of directors. "The company's new focus will be on security and privacy," he said.

The new company's first product will be D-Vasive, an anti-spyware product for mobile devices, McAfee said. "It locks down a device's microphone, camera, Blue Tooth," he said. "What shocked me most about FBI Director (James Comey's) testimony (before Congress in February) was that he put tape over his (smartphone) camera lens to protect it."

"D-Vasive offers a powerful tool for protection from the proliferation of invasive apps by consumer products companies, social networks, financial institutions and others," MGT said in a statement. "These invasive apps can secretly turn on a phone's microphone and camera, as well as monitor geographic movements and access contacts."

McAfee founded McAfee Associates in 1987. The company was purchased by Intel in 2010 for $7.7 billion,

He has also announced he wants to be the Libertarian Party presidential candidate in this year's election. "Things are going extremely well," he said.

Though a reluctant campaigner — "I'm not a hand shaker or a baby kisser," he said — McAfee is "confident" he'll get the nomination when the Libertarian Party holds its national convention in Orlando on May 29.

McAfee will run as Libertarian Party candidate for president

The flamboyant, outspoken McAfee has been something of a cult figure in the tech world. He fled his home in Belize in 2012 after he was sought for questioning as a "person of interest" in the murder of a neighbor. McAfee landed in Portland, Ore., before he settled in central Tennessee, where he was once convinced assassins from Central America were tracking him.

On the road -- and run -- with John McAfee