A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack floods a server or website with traffic from many sources simultaneously — overwhelming its resources until it can no longer respond to legitimate requests. Unlike a single-source attack, DDoS traffic is distributed across thousands or millions of compromised devices, making it difficult to block with simple IP filtering.
Attacks range from short “test” floods lasting minutes to sustained campaigns lasting days, and from a few Gbps to attacks exceeding hundreds of Gbps. E-commerce platforms, gaming servers, financial services, and any business with public-facing infrastructure are common targets — sometimes for extortion, sometimes for competitive sabotage, and sometimes with no clear motive at all.