denial-of-service attack

Cultural  

1. Often spread by e-mail viruses, these are deliberately planned attacks on a companies or organizations, Web sites, or servers. They aim to shut down access to a site or key server by flooding it with massive requests, placing such great demands on the targeted information infrastructure that no one else can gain access to it. (See cyberwarfare.)

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Example Sentences

Also, a Ukrainian online bank said it fought off a massive distributed denial-of-service attack on Tuesday.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 12, 2023

"The analysis shows that it is a denial-of-service attack," a parliament spokesperson said.

From Reuters • May 3, 2023

Still, Ukraine officials said it was the largest distributed denial-of-service attack in the country’s history and targeted government ministries and state banks.

From New York Times • Feb. 18, 2022

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian government’s Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security said that PrivatBank, the nation’s largest commercial bank, was hit with a denial-of-service attack that temporarily interfered with customers’ online banking transactions.

From Washington Post • Feb. 15, 2022

A 2009 distributed denial-of-service attack on American and South Korean websites.

From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2017