

U.S. government software provider SolarWinds Worldwide LLC is being sued by shareholders in a class action lawsuit following the revelation in December that the company’s Orion software had been hacked.
The lawsuit alleges that SolarWinds, former President and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Thompson and Chief Financial Officer Barton Kalsu made “false and/or misleading” statements in regulatory filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in February, May, August and November. Thompson was replaced Jan. 4 by Sudhakar Ramakrishna in a decision announced just before news of the company being hacked went public.
“Defendants… knew that the public documents and statements issued or disseminated in the name of SolarWinds were materially false and misleading; knew that such statements or documents would be issued or disseminated to the investing public; and knowingly and substantially participated in…such statements or documents as primary violations of the securities laws,” the lawsuit reads.
“[SolarWinds] misrepresented and failed to disclose the following adverse facts pertaining to the company’s business, operations and prospects, which were known to defendants or recklessly disregarded by them,” the lawsuit adds.
The lawsuit was filed by Timothy Bremer, a shareholder of SolarWinds who purchased shares in the company in September and October at $19.93 per share and $21.54 per share, respectively. Shares in SolarWinds closed regular trading today at $14.43.
As CRN noted, the lawsuit also references a finding that malicious Orion updates were still available for download days after SolarWinds had discovered that its software had been compromised.
How many government departments and companies were affected by the SolarWinds hack remains open to speculation. A report Jan. 3 noted that the hack may be bigger than previously believed.
Known victims include the U.S. Commerce and Treasury Departments, Department of Homeland Security along with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Sandia National Laboratories, the Office of Secure Transportation at NNSA and the Richland Field Office of the DOE.
Support our open free content by sharing and engaging with our content and community.
Where Technology Leaders Connect, Share Intelligence & Create Opportunities
SiliconANGLE Media is a recognized leader in digital media innovation serving innovative audiences and brands, bringing together cutting-edge technology, influential content, strategic insights and real-time audience engagement. As the parent company of SiliconANGLE, theCUBE Network, theCUBE Research, CUBE365, theCUBE AI and theCUBE SuperStudios — such as those established in Silicon Valley and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) — SiliconANGLE Media operates at the intersection of media, technology, and AI. .
Founded by tech visionaries John Furrier and Dave Vellante, SiliconANGLE Media has built a powerful ecosystem of industry-leading digital media brands, with a reach of 15+ million elite tech professionals. The company’s new, proprietary theCUBE AI Video cloud is breaking ground in audience interaction, leveraging theCUBEai.com neural network to help technology companies make data-driven decisions and stay at the forefront of industry conversations.