SEC and SolarWinds in preliminary deal to end cyber attack lawsuit

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reached a preliminary deal with software company SolarWinds and its chief information security officer to end litigation tied to a Russia-linked cyber attack. The SEC, SolarWinds and Timothy Brown successfully petitioned a federal judge on Wednesday to stay court proceedings while paperwork for a settlement was finalized. The regulator had sued SolarWinds and Brown in connection with a two-year cyber attack known as Sunburst that targeted the Austin, Texas-based firm. A judge dismissed much of the regulator’s case last year. The SEC had said that the defendants defrauded investors by concealing security weaknesses, but U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, who approved the stay, opined that such claims were based on “hindsight and speculation.”