DDoS (denial-of-service attack)

In a DDoS attack, thousands of infected devices send requests to a single site at the same time, overloading the server so it stops serving normal users. The goal is not to steal data but to take the site down.

Traffic-filtering services protect against DDoS (for example CDN networks with anti-DDoS protection) by weeding out malicious requests before they reach the server. For a small business, good hosting and a CDN are usually enough.