Securities and Exchange Commission v. SolarWinds Corp. et al

Filing 93

ORDER granting 90 Letter Motion to Seal. GRANTED. SO ORDERED. (Signed by Judge Paul A. Engelmayer on 3/25/24) (yv)

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LATHAM&WATKI NSLLP

March 22, 2024

VIAECF
The Honorable Paul A. Engelmayer
United States District Judge
Southern District of New York
40 Foley Square
New York, New York 10007

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Re: SEC v. Solar Winds Corp. & Brown, No. 23-cv-9518 (PAE)
Dear Judge Engelmayer:
On behalf of SolarWinds Corp. ("SolarWinds") and Timothy G. Brown (collectively,
"Defendants"), we write pursuant to Rule 4.B of the Court's Individual Rules and Practices to
respectfully request the Court's permission to file Exhibit No. 17 to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss
the Amended Complaint (the "Confidential Document") under seal. Defendants respectfully
submit that good cause exists for sealing.
Defendants seek to file the Confidential Document under seal because it reflects
SolarWinds' cybersecurity incident response plan. As such, it contains confidential and sensitive
business information (and nothing else). "Courts in this Circuit regularly seal information that
might disclose trade secrets or confidential business information." Jacovacci v. Brevet Holdings,
LLC, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5612, at *12 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 11, 2022); see also Brody v. Global Risk
Advisors LLC, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 151536, at *7 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 24, 2023) (allowing sealing
in full of document that "only contain[ed] sensitive business information").
In addition, publicly revealing the information contained the Confidential Document could
undermine SolarWinds' ability to respond to cyber incidents. Courts have permitted sealing of
information where it could be "used by malicious third parties to attack the [defendant's] service."
Personalized Media Communs., LLC v. Netjlix, Inc., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 218085, at *5-6
(S.D.N.Y. Nov. 19, 2020); see also Syntel Sterling Best Shores Mauritius Limited v. TriZetto
Group., 2021 WL 1541385, at *3 (granting a motion to seal with respect to "confidential and
proprietary information regarding [defendant's] . . . information security"). Here, given the
sensitive nature of SolarWinds' incident response plan-which could be exploited by a future
threat actor-sealing is warranted.

March 22, 2024
Page2

LATHAM&WATKI NScce

Consistent with Section 4.B.2 of the Court's Individual Rules and Practices in Civil Cases,
Defendants will contemporaneously file the proposed sealed document under seal via the ECF
system.
Respectfully submitted,
Isl Serrin Turner
Serrin Turner
of LATHAM & WATKINS LLP

cc:

All Counsel of Record (via ECF)

GRANTED.
SO ORDERED.

United States District Judge
March 25, 2024