Denial of service (DoS)

Denial of service (DoS) is an attack designed to disable, shut down or disrupt a network, website or service. Typically, a malware is used to interrupt or inhibit the normal flow of data into and out of a system such that, in a short period of time, the target is rendered useless. An example of a DoS attack is when a website is accessed massively and repeatedly from different locations, preventing legitimate visitors from accessing the website. When a DoS attack is launched from different locations in coordinated fashion, it is often referred to as a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS).