How does a Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack work?

A Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack primarily functions by overwhelming a network resource or service with an excessive amount of traffic or requests, which in turn causes the target resource to become unavailable to legitimate users. This approach exploits the capacity limits of the target, whether it's a server, website, or network, effectively rendering it incapable of fulfilling requests.

In a DoS attack, the attacker generates more traffic than the server can handle or sends requests that require extensive processing, leading to resource exhaustion. As legitimate users are unable to access the affected service, the attack successfully disrupts operations and can cause significant downtime or loss of access to critical services. The goal of a DoS attack is not to modify data, encrypt information, or gain unauthorized access, but to disrupt and disable access to legitimate users, highlighting the importance of network security measures designed to mitigate such attacks.