Dis­trib­uted denial of service (DDoS)

A DDoS attack is a dis­trib­uted attack on a company’s web­site or server. Many devices (mostly those which are part of a bot net) bom­bard their target with innu­mer­able requests during such an attack. The result: Due to over­load, the attacked web­site or server relents to the pres­sure and is no longer avail­able, or only to a lim­ited degree. Black­mail attempts are fre­quently the reason behind DDoS attacks. If no pay­ment is made, crim­i­nals will threaten to repeat the attacks.

See also: Botnet