SecurityBeginner
DDoS Attack
PronunciationDEE-DOS uh-TAK
Definition
A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a server, service, or network by overwhelming it with a flood of internet traffic. It uses multiple compromised computer systems as sources of attack traffic to make the target unavailable to legitimate users.
Where you hear it
In security incident reports, infrastructure monitoring discussions, and when planning server resilience.
Examples
The website went down after a massive DDoS attack targeted our main API endpoint.
We implemented a traffic filtering service to mitigate potential DDoS attacks.
Common mistake
Confusing a DDoS attack with a simple server crash caused by a bug; a DDoS is specifically a coordinated external effort to exhaust resources through high traffic volume.