DDoS

[dee-daws, ‐-dos, dee-dee-oh-es]

adjective

1. pertaining to or being an incident in which a network of computers floods an online resource with high levels of unwanted traffic so that it is inaccessible to legitimate service requests.

   a DDoS attack.

DDoS

abbreviation

1. distributed denial of service: a method of attacking a computer system by flooding it with so many messages that it is obliged to shut down

Word History and Origins

Origin of DDoS¹

1995–2000; D(istributed) D(enial) o(f) S(ervice)

Example Sentences

Mr Musk has previously claimed that the platform has been targeted by DDoS attacks, but these have not been confirmed.

From BBC

They told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "Whilst DDoS attacks are relatively low in sophistication and impact, they can cause disruption by preventing legitimate users from accessing online services."

From BBC

"It very well could be a DDoS attack," Matthew Prince, the head of security firm Cloudflare, told the BBC.

From BBC

Meanwhile Alp Toker, director of Netblocks, said the social media platform's explanation of how the issue was fixed "isn't particularly consistent" with a DDoS attack.

From BBC

"There appears to be a massive DDoS attack on X," Musk posted.

From BBC