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ARTICLE · 13 NOVEMBER 2023

Uncharted Territory: The SEC Sues SolarWinds And Its CISO For Securities Laws Violations In Connection With SUNBURST Cyberattack

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On October 30, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") filed a civil lawsuit charging SolarWinds Corporation ("SolarWinds" or the "Company")...

United StatesTechnology
Evan D. Wolff
Evan D. Wolff
Daniel L. Zelenko
Daniel L. Zelenko
Matthew B. Welling
Matthew B. Welling
William J. Bruno
William J. Bruno
Jennie Wang VonCannon
Jennie Wang VonCannon
Alexander Urbelis
Alexander Urbelis
Anand Sithian
Anand Sithian
Garylene (Gage) Javier, CIPP/US
Garylene (Gage) Javier, CIPP/US

On October 30, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") filed a civil lawsuit charging SolarWinds Corporation ("SolarWinds" or the "Company") and its chief information security officer, Timothy G. Brown ("Brown"), with securities fraud, internal controls failures, misleading investors about cyber risk, and disclosure controls failures, among other violations. The SEC's claims arise from allegedly known cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities at SolarWinds associated with the SUNBURST cyberattack that occurred between 2018 and 2021.

Background

Founded in 1999, SolarWinds, a publicly traded company, provides software that thousands of companies and many government agencies use to manage their information technology infrastructure by, for example, monitoring activity on networked servers. SolarWinds conducted its first initial public offering ("IPO") in 2009 and remained a public company until February 2016, when it was acquired by several private

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