SEC just hit four companies with big fines for downplaying the SolarWinds hack

The Securities and Exchange Commission fined four companies on Tuesday with misleading investors about the impact the 2020 hack of SolarWinds had on their own systems.

Unisys, Avaya, Check Point, and Mimecast will each pay civil penalties to settle the agency’s charges that they downplayed the impacts of the hack through their respective public disclosures.

“While public companies may become targets of cyberattacks, it is incumbent upon them to not further victimize their shareholders or other members of the investing public by providing misleading disclosures about the cybersecurity incidents they have encountered,” Acting Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement Sanjay Wadhwa said in a statement.

In 2020, a Russian backed group planted malware in the SolarWinds system that sent out updates to SolarWinds’s Orion software. When several thousand of the company’s clients installed the update, they also unknowingly installed the malware. It ended up becoming one of the most destructive and costly cyberattacks in history, as NPR put it.

According to the SEC, Unisys, Avaya, and Check Point learned in 2020, and Mimecast learned in 2021, that the actor behind the hack had accessed their systems without authorization. Still, the SEC argued, each minimized the incident in public disclosures. The SEC said that Unisys also described its risk as hypothetical, when it already knew it had been breached twice.

Unisys will pay a $4 million civil penalty. Avaya will pay $1 million, Check Point will pay $995,000, and Mimecast will pay $990,000.

A Check Point spokesperson said: “As mentioned in the SEC’s order, Check Point investigated the SolarWinds incident and did not find evidence that any customer data, code, or other sensitive information was accessed. Nevertheless, Check Point decided that cooperating and settling the dispute with the SEC was in its best interest and allows the company to maintain its focus on helping its customers defend against cyberattacks throughout the world.”

An Avaya spokesperson made a similar comment. “We are pleased to have resolved with the SEC this disclosure matter related to historical cybersecurity issues dating back to late 2020, and that the agency recognized Avaya’s voluntary cooperation and that we took certain steps to enhance the company’s cybersecurity controls,” the spokesperson said. “Avaya continues to focus on strengthening its cybersecurity program, both in designing and providing our products and services to our valued customers, as well as in our internal operations.”

Spokespeople for Unisys and Mimecast did not immediately return Fast Company‘s requests for comment.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91215136/sec-just-hit-four-companies-with-big-fines-for-downplaying-the-solarwinds-hack?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss

Utworzony 9mo | 23 paź 2024, 19:20:03


Zaloguj się, aby dodać komentarz

Inne posty w tej grupie

Yahoo Creators platform hits record revenue as publisher bets big on influencer-led content

Yahoo’s bet on creator-led content appears to be paying off. Yahoo Creators, the media company’s publishing platform for creators, had its most lucrative month yet in June.

Launched in M

11 lip 2025, 17:30:04 | Fast company - tech
GameStop’s Nintendo Switch 2 stapler sells for more than $100,000 on eBay after viral mishap

From being the face of memestock mania to going viral for inadvertently stapling the screens of brand-new video game consoles, GameStop is no stranger to infamy.

Last month, during the m

11 lip 2025, 12:50:04 | Fast company - tech
Don’t take the race for ‘superintelligence’ too seriously

The technology industry has always adored its improbably audacious goals and their associated buzzwords. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is among the most enamored. After all, the name “Meta” is the resi

11 lip 2025, 12:50:02 | Fast company - tech
Why AI-powered hiring may create legal headaches

Even as AI becomes a common workplace tool, its use in

11 lip 2025, 12:50:02 | Fast company - tech
Gen Zers are posting their unemployment era on TikTok—and it’s way too real

Finding a job is hard right now. To cope, Gen Zers are documenting the reality of unemployment in 2025.

“You look sadder,” one TikTok po

11 lip 2025, 10:30:04 | Fast company - tech
The most effective AI tools for research, writing, planning, and creativity

This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. 

11 lip 2025, 10:30:04 | Fast company - tech