Note: SolarWinds investors sold $256 million in stock, not 256 million shares, as stated in the audio above.
In a bombshell story over the weekend, the public learned about the hacking of several government agencies, and thousands of other organizations by suspected operatives of the Russian government. It began with a malware-infected software update from SolarWinds, an Austin-based company that makes network monitoring software.
Omar Gallaga has been writing about the hack and about SolarWinds for Texas Monthly. Gallaga told Texas Standard that some security experts had raised red flags about SolarWinds’ vulnerabilities, even before the hack was discovered.
“We don’t even know how widespread it is, exactly, but it could have affected as many as 18,000 customers of its Orion platform for IT management,” Gallaga said.
What you’ll hear in this segment:
– How SolarWinds software became a vehicle for malware
– How SolarWinds insiders sold shares before the hack became public
– Why Central Texas has become a hub for defense and security work
