When customers of a Web site are unable to access it due to flooding of fake network traffic, it is known as

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UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — D, denial of service (DoS) attack. Here the target's server or network is deliberately swamped with a huge volume of fake or junk requests, exhausting its bandwidth, memory or processing power so that genuine users can no longer reach the website. When the flood is launched from many hijacked machines at once, it becomes a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) A virus is malicious code that attaches to a file or program and spreads when that file is run; it corrupts or replicates on a host machine — it is not the act of flooding a website with traffic to block access.  (b) A Trojan is malware disguised as legitimate software that tricks a user into installing it (often opening a backdoor); it deceives a user rather than overwhelming a site with traffic.  (c) Cracking is breaking into a system or defeating its security/passwords for unauthorised access; the described attack denies service by overloading the site, not by breaking in.

Concept: A denial-of-service attack targets availability — one leg of the CIA triad (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability) of information security. Instead of stealing or altering data, the attacker makes a service unusable by drowning it in bogus requests. The distributed version (DDoS) uses a 'botnet' of many compromised computers to amplify the flood.

State PCS 2018 Q81 — Science & Technology PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2018 Q81 — Science & Technology PYQ with Answer