Who is Five Eyes Ltd?
Our story, which we are sharing in this article, is based on a true story - the story of how Five Eyes Ltd was founded.
This started back in January 2025. Michael McQuade had a business coach, John McCarthy, who mentored him in his recruitment business.
In the build-up to January, John would ask Michael questions every session they had about his work in intelligence. Nothing invasive, more curiosity. Each time, Michael would dodge the question and have John tell Michael information to change the subject.
"Being trained in tactical questioning (TQ) has its perks from time to time!" Says Michael.
In Michael's own mind, in the build-up to January, he was thinking...
"I would love to work in intelligence again; however, not for the government".
As Michael is not commercially minded, he dismissed the idea and put it down to a fantasy.
In one session in January, John revisited the topic of intelligence. John would ask Michael questions, and Michael would try to evade the question as always.
However, Michael had this fire in his belly.
"This feeling is like an itch that you can't get rid of, and I wanted to jump back into the intelligence world again." Says Michael.
Michael mentioned this to John during one of their sessions.
The session stopped. Went quiet for a moment. John smiled and said, "Let's do it".
John got overly excited about the idea. The reason is that he is a business builder, a big thinker who loves a challenge. Building a spy-ish business sounds interesting... What do you think, does that sound interesting?
John and Michael scheduled another meeting and started discussing this project in more depth.
Michael remembers John asking him.
"What is your skill set?" as he was looking down and typing into his keyboard.
Michael took a deep breath...
"I specialised in cyber security, counter-threat intelligence, counterespionage, physical penetration testing, surveillance, tactical questioning (TQ), social engineering and open-source intelligence (OSINT). I was an intelligence officer and analyst.
John stopped typing. Looked up at the camera and said "wow".
John then said, "We can make a business out of this. I don't know how, just yet, but I know there is a business here".
Michael then said, "We?".
John started laughing and said, "I want to be part of this!".
The project was building some momentum. As every project starts, everyone has all the gear and no idea. Bright ideas were flying around like a marketing campaign for a Christmas TV ad.
John was also coaching a good friend of Michael's, Darren Mott, FBI Special Agent (Ret.), "The CyBUr Guy" with his cybersecurity business in the US.
John got to find out Darren's background and skill set when coaching him with his business.
One day, John suggested, "Darren and Michael should work together..."
Michael thought about it for half a second and said, "Let's do it!".
Michael contacted Darren and asked him if he wanted to be part of this project. Michael explained that "I don't know what it is fully yet, but we can work on it together".
Without hesitation, Darren agreed.
John, Michael & Darren spent seven months, from February to August, planning everything.
Every detail, no matter how small.
For days and hours, John would take Darren and Michael through marketing to make sure this landed on the bullseye for launch.
This is John's bag; he LOVES marketing. Darren and Michael would play a game of "Would you rather?" and see who could come up with the most ridiculous suggestion, rather than doing marketing. Then show each other their Lego collection; the cybers don't do marketing, they build with Lego.
However, it was vitally important that they got through the tasks as a team. Since then, they have agreed to play to their strengths from now on.
Darren & Michael will handle the technical side, and John can focus on marketing.
Business tip: Start a business with founders who have different skill sets. Says Michael
As the launch was getting closer, they had to come up with a business name.
For anyone who has started a business. This is either the best part or the most frustrating part.
“It was both for us”. Says Michael.
Back and forth. Back and forth even more.
One day, Michael put in some effort to research a name.
He was thinking of something to do with the UK & US.
Then he was thinking about something related to the UK & US, and something related to intelligence.
Then the name sprang into his mind - Five Eyes Ltd.
For those unfamiliar with the term, Five Eyes...
Snapshot - It was a fitting name, because the UK & US intelligence communities were coming together to create a business centred on intelligence disciplines.
The niche was next.
Which sector will they guide and support?
This was a lengthy, back-and-forth discussion that spanned several months.
The marketing plan was scrapped several times and had to be restarted. To Darren and Michael's delight, it gave them an excuse to play with Lego again!
Ultimately, they agreed that the supply chain sector was the best sector to guide and support.
This decision wasn't based on a sector drawing out of a hat.
This decision was based on their careers in the intelligence world.
This part I am about to share with you may be frightening, and if you get scared easily, I suggest you do NOT read further. Says Michael.
"From my time working in intelligence. The supply chain in the UK is a massive target.
One of the top targets in the UK. If you think about it, if the UK's supply chain were to fail, so would the UK. The supply chain is the backbone of the UK. I mean, if we get an inch of snow, the country comes to a halt!
I mentioned "target" - but who is the bad guy (s) targeting the UK?
The list would require a filing cabinet or a premium cloud subscription.
From threat nation-states, such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. Their intelligence agencies will actively target the UK.
Hacking groups based in these countries, which are funded, trained, and equipped with tools by these threat nation-states. You see, these countries often prefer not to have their fingerprints on the crime scene. Therefore, they get someone else to do the work, and when the hacking group has caused maximum damage, the UK finds out who, why, where, when, and what. These countries can claim it wasn't them, but rather someone else.
Then you have the rogue hacking groups. The group that will emerge from nowhere and seek to establish a name for itself on the dark web. You will find these groups on UK soil, just like the hackers who hacked M&S.
Then you have the physical threat actors who attempt to infiltrate a company with the intention of destroying it from within.
As someone who has protected our country from cyber-criminals and terrorists, this was the reason I had to transition back into the intelligence world.
You may be thinking this sounds all Hollywood and made-up, genuinely, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart, I wish it were, but it is not.
This is real life.
I will further explain:
I monitor the dark web. I spent a considerable amount of time on the dark web throughout my career.
All I need to do is enter keywords such as "Supply Chain," "Logistics," "Transportation," and "UK."
Then I am overwatching what is being discussed on the dark web. I have a tool that can conduct more in-depth searches on the dark web and facilitate further investigation.
As of 2024, there are approximately 230,000 logistics businesses in the UK, according to X2 (UK).
This is what I found:
I monitored 100 Logistics businesses on the dark web, ranging from small businesses to enterprises. Based on the discussions that I was reading.
78 have hackers in their network.
Out of those 78 businesses, hackers are stealing bank records, financial documents, contracts with suppliers, customer and client information, usernames and passwords, and discussions about when they would hold the businesses ransom.
Those 78 logistics businesses have unlocked doors to their network, and hackers are logging in whenever they want, undetected and taking what they want.
Because some hackers enjoy gloating on the dark web, I can see these documents, and I can see screenshots of computer screens.
Out of those 78 businesses, 62 could not afford the ransom demand, especially given the figures that they are going to demand. I have reviewed the bank records and chat logs; shutting down logistics businesses is the goal.
The IT department was unable to handle this type of situation. As IT & Cyber security are not the same thing. Insurance companies will not pay out because the terms and conditions have been breached.
Therefore, if 78% percent of logistics businesses have hackers in their network and 62% percent could not afford the ransom. Being conservative and halving those figures.
Out of the 230,000 logistics businesses in the UK, 39% or 89,700 have hackers in their network.
31% or 71,300 could not afford the ransom and would go out of business.
There is also the introduction to the Cyber Security & Resilience Bill due to be passed in Parliament this year. In which Supply Chain is included in the bill."
Cyber security and resilience policy statement - GOV.UK
You can find a link above to find out more.
