[Term of the Day]: Denial-of-Service (DoS) Attack

Term of the Day

“Denial-of-Service Attack”

Definition — What is a Denial-of-Service (DoS) Attack?

A denial-of-service attack is a type of cyber attack to prevent or deny legitimate users from accessing specific computer systems, devices, services, or other IT resources. DoS attacks are typically executed using the DoS tools that send many request packets to a targeted Internet server (usually Web, FTP, or Mail server). The attack floods the server's resources and makes the system unusable.

Unlike other security attacks, DoS attacks usually do not aim at the breach of security. Rather, they are focused on making websites and services unavailable to legitimate users resulting in loss of time and money. These attacks can last many days, jeopardizing the image of an organization and causing revenue loss towards compensation to users for unavailability of services at the time of an emergency.

Check this article to know more about the DoS attack. You might also want to see this article on the top 5 most infamous DDoS attacks.