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ARTICLE · 25 NOVEMBER 2025

SolarWinds Dismissed: What The SEC's U-turn Signals For Cyber Enforcement

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The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) case against SolarWinds and its chief information security officer (CISO), Timothy Brown, ended abruptly on November 20, 2025, when the SEC agreed to dismiss its remaining claims against SolarWinds with prejudice.

United StatesTechnology
Andrew Tannenbaum
Andrew Tannenbaum
Anna Rudawski
Anna Rudawski
Kirk Lancaster
Kirk Lancaster
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The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) case against SolarWinds and its chief information security officer (CISO), Timothy Brown, ended abruptly on November 20, 2025, when the SEC agreed to dismiss its remaining claims against SolarWinds with prejudice.

The outcome caps a long-running and closely watched legal dispute that began with sweeping fraud and controls allegations tied to SolarWinds' statements about its cybersecurity practices and its disclosures following the breach of its flagship Orion software platform in 2020.

The dismissal comes amid a broader recalibration of enforcement priorities in the new administration, including the SEC's announcement earlier this year that it will focus on public issuer "fraudulent disclosure" relating to cybersecurity—signaling a pivot away from actions based on more nuanced allegations of disclosure deficiencies. The SEC's decision to abandon the SolarWinds case altogether is the most pointed example yet of that

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