Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science 2025 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the Exam

DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service. This term describes a type of cyber attack where multiple compromised systems are used to overwhelm a target, such as a server, network, or website, causing it to become unavailable to its intended users. In a DDoS attack, the source of the attack is distributed across numerous systems, making it difficult to mitigate and trace back to a single origin.

A key aspect of this type of attack is its scale and coordination; attackers often use networks of infected devices, known as botnets, to launch a simultaneous flood of traffic toward the target. This flood of requests can exhaust the target's resources, leading to downtime or degraded service, which is the primary objective of such attacks.

Understanding this concept is crucial in computer science, especially in fields like cybersecurity, where the goal is to design systems that can withstand such challenges. Recognizing what DDoS entails helps students grasp the significance of security measures in software design and network management.