"DDoSing" Why is it a problem?

"DDoS", or "distributed denial-of-service" Is whenever a person, or group of people flood a server with junk information in a mass "attack" that over-stresses the server causing it to lag or to crash entirely. In the article by "CloudFlare", they compare it to a traffic jam. A DDoS attack will send tons of "cars" (information) that isn't important through a server, causing it to lag out or stop moving entirely. This issue often is prevalent in online games where a malicious player, often one who is losing, will DDoS a game server in order to either kick everyone from the server, or to allow them to win while everyone else in the game is unable to do anything. This kind of attack is not exclusive to games however. Sometimes a group will DDoS a popular social media site such as Instagram and Twitter, or a chat service such as Discord. What happens in these instances is if the servers are not able to keep up with the attack they will slow down to a crawl, not allowing users to make posts or send messages to others, effectively crippling the service. So why is this important to know about? Well, DDoS attacks are becoming much more common as the world relies more and more on the internet. We use the internet to connect and communicate with one another, which makes it very important. Which also makes it very vulnerable. As in real life, there are many individuals who seek only to cause trouble for others for their own amusement or financial gain. A DDoSed server can be held "hostage" agianst the owner and the attack won't stop until a ransom is paid. As I mentioned in games, sometimes people DDoS simply to win or cause mayhem for their opponents. Often however, these attacks are caused simply because someone wanted to cause trouble and possibly get a laugh out of the frustration of others. DDoSing is highly illegal in the United States however, with punishments ranging from large fines to even jail time. Companies are cracking down on these attacks by making their servers more secure though and you can often protect yourself by using a vpn.



Relevant links:
https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/ddos/what-is-a-ddos-attack/

Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I4O4hoKzb8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq9aBkbINu4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIOjAg7W0iQ