Quadsys five get off easy without prison time

Oct 2, 2016 22:05 GMT  ·  By

A UK judge sentenced on Friday five executives from Quadsys, a UK-based cyber-security firm, who pleaded guilty in July to hacking one of their business rivals.

The five are Paul Streeter (Quadsys owner), Paul Cox (Managing Director), Alistair Barnard (Director), Steve Davies (Account Manager), and Jon Townsend (Security Consultant).

According to UK police, in 2015, Quadsys hired a technical engineer from a rival cyber-security company called ITBus. This person was able to supply the three directors, Streeter, Cox, and Barnard, with login credentials for his former company's email inbox.

Quadsys execs spied on their rivals

The three used this access to gain knowledge on the rival's contract quotes. They used this information to undercut their rival's prices and steer customers away from their competitor.

ITBus discovered the intrusion in March 2015, identified the culprit, and by August 2015, UK police had arrested five Quadsys execs involved in the hack.

Following a year-long investigation and court procedures, the five pleaded guilty this past July.

Despite the gravity of their actions, no exec will go to jail

"The criminals knew what they were doing was illegal and would damage their competition and I hope that today’s sentencing can start to provide some closure to the victim," Detective Sergeant Rob Bryant, leading investigator, said.

Quadsys is a small Oxford-based security firm, a reseller of security products and provider of security services, who partners with bigger companies such as Microsoft, Trend Micro, Apple, Adobe, Kaspersky, ESET, Avast, HP, IBM, Samsung, and many others.  

Name Age From Charges Sentence
Paul Cox 42 Acremead Road, Wheatley, Oxford One count of securing unauthorised access to computer material contrary to section 1 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 - 10-month custodial sentence suspended for two years
- 150 hours of community work over a 12-month period
- disqualification of directorship for 12 months
- fined £1657
- must wear an electronic tag until December 31, 2016
Paul Streeter 41 Blakes Avenue, Witney One count of securing unauthorised access to computer material contrary to section 1 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 - 10-month custodial sentence suspended for two years
- 150 hours of community work over a 12-month period
- disqualification of directorship for 12 months
- fined £1657
- must wear an electronic tag until December 31,  2016
Alistair Barnard 39 Bampton Road, Aston, Bampton One count of securing unauthorised access to computer material contrary to section 1 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 - 10-month custodial sentence suspended for two yeara
- 150 hours of community work over a 12-month period
- disqualification of directorship for 12 months
- fined £1657
- must wear an electronic tag until December 31, 2016
John Townsend 37 Pensclose, Witney One count of securing unauthorised access to computer material contrary to section 1 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 - 275 hours community work
- must wear an electronic tag until December 31, 2016
Steve Davis 35 Grahame Close, Blewbury, Didcot One count of securing unauthorised access to computer material contrary to section 1 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 - nine-month custodial sentence suspended for two years
- 150 hours of community work over a 12-month period
- must wear an electronic tag until December 31, 2016