A Distributed Denial of Services Attack (DDoS) is an assault in which a multitude of compromised computer systems focus on a single target system, thereby causing a denial of service for users of the targeted system. In a Distributed Denial of Services Attack, zombies, computers that have been compromised, do the bidding of a remote controller, directed by bots, the software that enables the remote controller to broadcast commands to the army of infected machines. The controller can harness the power of thousands of computers and the networks to which they are attached to achieve a concentration of computational power that can overwhelm even the largest servers. Distributed Denial of Services Attacks typically focus on online businesses, rather than the infrastructure that supports them. There is a significant risk of Distributed Denial of Services Attacks being used against critical national infrastructures as a form of espionage. It is easier to disrupt the operation of a network than to gain access to it. Disruption of the public utilities such as electric power and water systems could be catastrophic. |