Cyberbreaches do not receive enough attention. The last time we railed against a company related to a Cyberbreach was the Equifax (tkr: EFX), hack of 2017. That breach was disclosed in September 2017 despite the fact that the company had knowledge of the hack for months. EFX executives sold stock ahead of the disclosure. SolarWinds (tkr: SWI) has similarities.
- SolarWinds CEO Kevin Thompson abruptly resigned on December 9th.
- Thompson sold stock in November and December, including December 9th when former private equity owner Thoma Bravo also sold stock.
- SolarWinds disclosed the cyberbreach on December 14th.
- A guest on a Fox News program stated that law enforcement had confiscated CEO Kevin Thompson’s passport.
Consumers were the victim of the 2017 Equifax cyberbreach. Where the SolarWinds cyberbreach affected multiple Federal agencies, perhaps the penalty will be more severe.