<== Site of the Week for 2020-12-16 ==>

SolarWinds

Tools | SolarWinds is an Austin based company with a hub in Salt Lake. SolarWinds offers software management and software security services. They provide services to many Fortune 500 firms and the US government.

SolarWinds are in the news as the computer update services offered by the company had been hacked. The hack was most likely done by a foreign agent.

The computer hack was one of the most sophisticated attacks in cyber-security history. The video describes the attack and the target of the attack.

The attack targeted the system used for updating computers. Most computers run periodic updates.

The updates often close security holes discovered by cyber security experts. This cyber attack involved injecting malicious software into the update software.

Who Owns SolarWinds

SolarWinds is a relatively young company. It was founded in 1999. The company has been tossed around between private equity firms and Wall Street; So, I wrote up the corporate timeline for the firm.

The company was founded in 1999 by executives from Walmart. They received major lines of founding from Bain Capital and held an IPO. The private equity firm Silver Lake Capital acquired the firm and held another IPO.

IMHO, this style of financial football makes for unstable firms.

Yahoo Finance says the company has 1 billion in annual sales which produces $39 million in revenues. The kicker is that the company has $2 billion in debt from its merger chain.