From Thames Valley Police:
Five men have been sentenced today (30/9) following an investigation by Thames Valley Police and the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU).
The men were originally arrested by Thames Valley Police in March last year, in an operation with the support of SEROCU.
The investigation was then passed onto SEROCU’s specialist capability Cyber Crime Unit.
It was uncovered that an IT sales company called Quadsys in Kidlington, had hired a technical engineer from the victim, an owner of an IT sales company called ITBus. This person was able to supply three of the directors of Quadsys with the password and login details to be able to read the victim’s emails.
This enabled the three Quadsys’s directors to see all the quotes for contracts and be able to undercut those quotes and win business for their company.
The men were today sentenced at Oxford Crown Court to the following:
• Paul Cox, 42-year-old, of Acremead Road, Wheatley, Oxford, pleaded guilty to one count of securing unauthorised access to computer material contrary to section 1 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and was sentenced to 10 months custodial sentence suspended for two year, 150 hours of community work over a 12 month period, disqualification of directorship for 12 month, fined £1657 and to wear an electronic tag until 31 December 2016;
• Paul Streeter, 41-year-old, of Blakes Avenue, Witney, pleaded guilty to one count of securing unauthorised access to computer material contrary to section 1 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and was sentenced to 10 months custodial sentence suspended for two year, 150 hours of community work over a 12 month period, disqualification of directorship for 12 month, fined £1657 and to wear an electronic tag until 31 December 2016;
• Alistair Barnard 39-year-old from Bampton Road, Aston, Bampton, pleaded guilty to one count of securing unauthorised access to computer material contrary to section 1 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and was sentenced to 10 months custodial sentence suspended for two year, 150 hours of community work over a 12 month period, disqualification of directorship for 12 month, fined £1657 and to wear an electronic tag until 31 December 2016;
• John Townsend, 37-year-old, of Pensclose, Witney, pleaded guilty to one count of securing unauthorised access to computer material contrary to section 1 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and was sentenced to a community order of 275 hours community work and to wear an electronic tag until 31 December 2016;
• Steve Davis, 35-year-old, of Grahame Close, Blewbury, Didcot, pleaded guilty to one count of securing unauthorised access to computer material contrary to section 1 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and was sentenced to nine months custodial sentence suspended for two year, 150 hours of community work over a 12 month period and to wear an electronic tag until 31 December 2016.
Det Sgt Rob Bryant, leading the investigation from SEROCU’s Cyber Crime Unit, said: “We continue to work with our colleagues, such as Thames Valley Police, in order to make it very difficult for cyber criminals to operate within the South East Region and beyond.
“Today’s results follow an extensive and thorough investigation by officers from SEROCU’s Cyber Crime Unit.
“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. Cyber Crime is an emerging challenge both for law enforcement and wider society, which will increasingly dominate policing activity over the coming years.
“We are seeing the criminal use of the internet and technology in almost every aspect of serious and organised crime.
“Working together, with policing agencies at regional, national and even international levels, gives us the best chance of tacking the complex, and often global, threat from cyber crime as we seek to protect local people.
“But we all need to understand that 80 percent of cyber crime can be prevented by just following some basic security measures. It is vital we all take our online security very seriously to make it as hard as possible for cyber criminals to operate. Some simple safeguards can be put in place to help prevent the likelihood of you becoming a victim which you can find by visiting www.getsafeonline.com.
“I would urge anyone from the community who has information about criminality where they live to share that information with their local police force or Crimestoppers so that positive action can be taken”
“We will continue to support and assist our forces across the South East region in disrupting cyber criminals from operating.”