What is a DoS or DDoS attack?
Denial of Service (DoS) or Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks send large volumes of traffic towards a target site in an attempt to consume all available network or system resources, thereby denying access to legitimate users. Infamous examples include the Blaster Worm, Code Red, Code Red II, SQL Slammer, and MyDoom. DDoS attacks enlist the help of dozens to thousands of unsuspecting ‘zombie’ servers, who unwittingly participate in the attack. Because such attacks have multiple source addresses, pinpointing a single culprit is not possible.
