Denial of service attack: Difference between revisions
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A '''denial of service attack''' is the use of ordinary queries or access rights to overload a program, processor, database or (especially) bandwidth-limited [[net service]] especially a [[web service]], typically with [[crapflood]]s. This denies all legitimate users access to the [[web]] (e.g. a [[large public wiki]]) itself. It is very easy to overwhelm those services that have a fixed [[bandwidth limit]] - accordingly, any use of any automated [[bot]] to create superfluous traffic on such a site, e.g. use of any [[vandalbot]], must be considered a deliberate denial of service attack, regardless of the claimed intent of its use: its effect is exactly the same: denial of service when the limited number of users or bandwidth is exceeded. | A '''denial of service attack''' is the use of ordinary queries or access rights to overload a program, processor, database or (especially) bandwidth-limited [[net service]] especially a [[web service]], typically with [[crapflood]]s. This denies all legitimate users access to the [[web]] (e.g. a [[large public wiki]]) itself. It is very easy to overwhelm those services that have a fixed [[bandwidth limit]] - accordingly, any use of any automated [[bot]] to create superfluous traffic on such a site, e.g. use of any [[vandalbot]], must be considered a deliberate denial of service attack, regardless of the claimed intent of its use: its effect is exactly the same: denial of service when the limited number of users or bandwidth is exceeded. | ||
In most developed countries such an attack is considered an act of [[terrorism]]. This has been strongly contested by those who consider there to be a strong line between information and living bodies. | In most developed countries such an attack is considered a [[felony]] or at least [[misdemeanour]]. If the attack is against so-called [[critical infrastructure]] (which means any essential service including banks or utilities) it can be considered an act of [[terrorism]]. This has been strongly contested by those who consider there to be a strong line between information and living bodies. | ||