On December 7, 2020, a few days before trojaned SolarWinds software was publicly confirmed to have been used to attack other organizations, longstanding SolarWinds CEO Kevin Thompson retired. [ 60 ] [ 61 ] That same day, two private equity firms with ties to SolarWinds's board sold substantial amounts of stock in SolarWinds. [ 60 ] The firms denied insider trading. [ 60 ] [ 62 ]