US and European Authorities Dismantle Sality Bitcoin Botnet

Justice Department and CrowdStrike disrupted Sality botnet after eight years of stealing cryptocurrency.

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As of 2026-09-03 22:40 UTC. Market figures are as the cited sources reported them at that time and may have moved since. This is news, not investment advice.

The Justice Department and CrowdStrike announced on Tuesday that they had disrupted Sality, a peer-to-peer botnet that has been running since 2003. ^[1] The Federal Grand Jury in Los Angeles indicted Southworth on three counts of threatening to kill President Donald Trump and additional charges of cyberstalking and harassment against the president's personal lawyer and family. ^[2] US authorities arrested Benjamin Azariah Southworth, a 40-year-old resident of the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, on September 3, 2026, for threatening to kill President Donald Trump. ^[3] CrowdStrike estimates that the Sality operator stole at least $150,000 through its primary payload, EggJagger, over the past eight years. ^[4] CrowdStrike values the unspent stolen cryptocurrency portfolio at a peak of about 147 million rubles in January 2025, which is roughly the purchasing power of $4 million in a Western capital. ^[5] The EggJagger payload monitors the clipboard for cryptocurrency wallet addresses and swaps them for the operator's own addresses, causing victims to send funds to strangers. ^[6] Federal prosecutors accused Southworth of publishing the home addresses and phone numbers of the president's lawyer's family members, an act known as doxxing. ^[7] Prosecutors allege that Southworth used accounts on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and a personal website to publicly express hostility toward President Trump and his followers. ^[8]

What this stands on

The Justice Department and CrowdStrike announced on Tuesday that they had disrupted Sality, a peer-to-peer botnet that has been running since 2003. · Decrypt

The Federal Grand Jury in Los Angeles indicted Southworth on three counts of threatening to kill President Donald Trump and additional charges of cyberstalking and harassment against the president's personal lawyer and family. · El Tiempo

US authorities arrested Benjamin Azariah Southworth, a 40-year-old resident of the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, on September 3, 2026, for threatening to kill President Donald Trump. · El Tiempo

CrowdStrike estimates that the Sality operator stole at least $150,000 through its primary payload, EggJagger, over the past eight years. · Decrypt

CrowdStrike values the unspent stolen cryptocurrency portfolio at a peak of about 147 million rubles in January 2025, which is roughly the purchasing power of $4 million in a Western capital. · Decrypt

The EggJagger payload monitors the clipboard for cryptocurrency wallet addresses and swaps them for the operator's own addresses, causing victims to send funds to strangers. · Decrypt

Federal prosecutors accused Southworth of publishing the home addresses and phone numbers of the president's lawyer's family members, an act known as doxxing. · El Tiempo

Prosecutors allege that Southworth used accounts on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and a personal website to publicly express hostility toward President Trump and his followers. · El Tiempo

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