WHAT IS DENIAL OF SERVICES (DoS) ATTACK | CYBER SECURITY

 A Denial of service (DoS) attack is usually aimed at a web server. Such an attack forces the server/computer to restart. An attack in which the attacker's goal is to shut down the target server rather than stealing data is called DoS attacks. This prevents genuine users of a services/website on the web server from using that service. This attack can be done using a single computer called Denial of service (DoS) attack or using more than one computer called Distributed Denial of service (DDoS) attack.

We have learned that when we type a website address in the browser and press the enter key, the browser requests for that web page from the server. DoS attacks sends large number of such requests to the server until it collapses under the load and stops functioning. A DoS attack using a computer on a network slows down the network by flooding a server with large number of requests. A DDoS attack uses multiple computers in the network that it has previously infected. These infected. These infected computers called zombies , work together and send out large quantities of fake messages/ requests to the target server. This increases the amount of data traffic to the target server. This leads to server overload and the server is unable to provide services to its users. The target computer is thus forced to reset/ restart leading to unavailability of its service for a period of time. A DoS attack interrupts network service for some period, but it does not cause severe damage to files as in the case of  a virus attack.