Denial of Service (DoS)
An attack that disrupts the availability of a network, system, or service by overwhelming it with traffic.
Understanding DoS Attacks
DoS attacks overwhelm a system’s resources, causing server crashes, downtime, or degraded performance.
Types of DoS attacks include:
Volumetric Attacks – Overloading networks with massive amounts of traffic (e.g., UDP floods).
Protocol Attacks – Exploiting weaknesses in network protocols (e.g., SYN floods, Ping of Death).
Application-Layer Attacks – Targeting web servers with malicious HTTP requests.
Common Applications of DoS Attacks
Cyberwarfare & Hacktivism – Targeting government websites for political statements.
Corporate Rivalries – Disrupting competitors’ online services.
Financial Extortion – Attackers demand ransom to stop the attack (ransom DoS, RDoS).
Best Practices for DoS Attack Prevention
Rate Limiting & Traffic Filtering – Limits malicious requests.
Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) – Blocks DoS attack patterns before reaching servers.
Deploying Distributed Defenses – Using content delivery networks (CDNs) and anti-DDoS services.