Revise Computingrevisecomputing.co.uk
At a glanceFeaturesStudentsPricingHow it worksFree GCSE notesExam dates
At a glanceFeaturesStudentsPricingHow it worksFree GCSE notesExam dates

Knowledge organisers / Threats to computer systems and networks

Forms of attack: Denial of service attacks

All topicsPractise exam questions
Knowledge organiser

Threats to computer systems and networks

1.4.1a.iv

What you need to know

A Denial of Service (DoS) attack overwhelms a website or server with excessive traffic, making it slow or completely inaccessible to legitimate users. The aim is disruption, not data theft.

Key points

  • Definition:Denial of Service (DoS): an attack that floods a server/website with a massive number of requests, overwhelming it and making it unavailable to legitimate users.
  • The goal is to DISRUPT the service — not to steal data.
  • The server becomes overloaded and cannot process genuine requests from real users.
  • Often carried out using botnets (networks of compromised computers) to send requests from many sources simultaneously (DDoS).
  • Exam Tip:DoS attacks do NOT steal data — they aim to make a service UNAVAILABLE by overwhelming it with traffic.