Philosophers will argue that it’s morally reprehensible to profit from the misfortune of others. Nevertheless, it’s inevitable that Internet security companies will benefit from any upsurge in malware/virus attacks or other criminal hacker activity.

If you’ve been thinking that viruses and online frauds have been in the news a lot lately, you’re right. So, it shouldn’t be too surprising to find that Internet security leader McAfee Inc. recently posted 27 per cent growth [in sales] on record revenue of (US)$410 million for the third quarter of 2008.

(US)$163 million of that total came from sales of McAfee consumer products, notably its family of Internet Security suites.

Among the new product/service announcements from McAfee during its tumultuous third quarter: The promise of McAfee Active Protection, an internet-based personal computer security system which will, “shield computer users against attacks as they happen without requiring a traditional scheduled update.”

The financially-minded can access the full financial statement and a Web cast by McAfee execs here.