In web security, what does DDoS stand for?

DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service, which is a prominent concept in web security. This term refers to an attack method whereby multiple compromised systems are used to target a single system, such as a web server, with the intent of overwhelming it and causing a denial of service for legitimate users. By distributing the attack across numerous sources, it becomes significantly more challenging to mitigate, as the traffic comes from many different locations, making identification of the source difficult.

Understanding DDoS is vital for developing effective security measures to protect against these types of attacks, which can be devastating for organizations as they can lead to significant downtime and loss of service. The nuances of distributed attacks further emphasize the importance of having robust defense strategies in place, such as traffic filtering and rate limiting.