What Is a DDoS Attack?
DDoS Short Definition:
DDoS stands for Distributed Denial-of-Service. It is a type of attack in which the threat actor aims to make a machine or a network unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of the host.
Distributed Denial of Service: Extended Definition
Denial of service (DoS) can be accomplished by flooding the target with excessive requests. The purpose of this attack is to overload the targeted system and prevent its legitimate requests from being fulfilled.
A Distributed Denial-of-Service attack, shortly known as a DDoS attack, is when the incoming traffic flooding the target comes from multiple sources. In terms of its mitigation,this type of attack requires more sophisticated strategies, because attempting to block a single source of the attack is unsatisfactory.
DDoS attacks of criminal intent often target sites or services hosted on high-profile web servers. These often include financial institutions and payment gateways. The reasons for such an attack may be blackmail or activism.
DDoS attacks can be quite effective, as they may utilize multiple compromised computer systems as sources of the attack traffix. Exploited machines could be computers and IoT devices. These attacks can be described as an unexpected traffic jam that clogs up the traffic highway, preventing regular traffic from reaching its final destination.
For more definitions, check out our Cyber Dictionary.