Security
Beginner
What is DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service)?
An attack that floods a target server or network with traffic from multiple sources to overwhelm it and deny service to legitimate users.
DDoS attacks use thousands of compromised devices (botnets) to generate massive traffic volumes. Types include volumetric attacks (flood bandwidth), protocol attacks (exploit protocol weaknesses), and application layer attacks (target specific services).
Mitigation includes CDN/DDoS protection services (Cloudflare, AWS Shield), rate limiting, geo-blocking, traffic analysis, and over-provisioning. DDoS attacks are common and can target any internet-facing service. Protection should be part of every production architecture.
