An international public-private operation supported by Europol has disrupted the Sality peer-to-peer (P2P) botnet, a criminal infrastructure used to deliver malicious payloads to thousands of infected computers. The coordinated action took place on 31 August 2026 and was led by US authorities. It targeted a botnet believed to have been operating for more than two decades. Sality has been described as a P2P botnet, meaning it relies on infected computers working in a network to support the distribution of malicious software. Europol said the operation aimed to disrupt this system used to spread malicious payloads across the internet, affecting large numbers of compromised devices worldwide. The operation was carried out with support from Europol and involved international public-private cooperation. Europol did not provide details in the supplied information about arrests, prosecutions, or the identities of anyone accused, nor did it specify the technical steps taken to disrupt the botnet. As a result of the disruption, the long-running infrastructure used by criminals to push malicious payloads has been targeted after years of activity.