--Originally published at Computer and Information Security
Have you ever tried to visit a site but were not able to do so. You double check your internet connection to be sure it is not your fault. You even visit other sites but the one you want is down.
Something that can be going on is that the site you are trying to visit is suffering a Denial of Service attack.
The objective of a Denial of Service (DoS) attack is to make a resource unavailable for the purpose it was designed.
Some ways to make a service unavailable for users are:
- Manipulating network packets.
- Taking advantage of programming and resource handling vulnerabilities.
For example, if a server receives a very large number of requests, it may not be able to process legitimate users’ requests. In the same way, a service may stop if a programming vulnerability is exploited.
flickr photo by George Ellenburg https://flickr.com/photos/a2gemma/1448178195 shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license.
