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SynAc
Term

Distributed Denial of Service

A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack uses many systems to overwhelm a target and degrade availability.

Senses

Distributed availability attack

DDoS attacks distribute traffic or requests across many sources (botnets, reflected/amplified traffic) to saturate bandwidth or exhaust application resources. Defenses include upstream filtering and traffic engineering.

References
  • NIST CSRC GlossaryJan 05, 2026
    NIST CSRC Glossary — Distributed denial of service
    https://csrc.nist.gov/glossary/term/distributed_denial_of_service
    NIST states most site information is public information and may be distributed or copied, except material marked as copyrighted; attribution requested. Verify per-document markings before quoting.
    Source: NIST CSRC Glossary (csrc.nist.gov).
Sense 2

A denial of service technique that uses numerous systems to perform the attack simultaneously.

References
  • NICCS (CISA) Cybersecurity VocabularyJan 06, 2026
    NICCS glossary export (CSV)
    https://niccs.cisa.gov/rest/vocab/export-csv
    NICCS is a CISA (DHS) program. Individual glossary entries include a "From" attribution (e.g., CNSSI 4009, NIST SPs, NICE Framework). Treat "From" values as upstream provenance and verify before quoting large portions of text.
    Source: NICCS (CISA) Cybersecurity Vocabulary (niccs.cisa.gov).