Denial of Service - technical definition

A type of crack attack that makes it difficult, if not impossible, for valid system users to access their computer or particular services—such as Web applications—on a computer. This inaccessibility is typically achieved by overloading the target system with invalid, unexpected, or malformed data. DoS attacks are becoming more and more common today, hampering businesses, government agencies, and educational and medical institutions from performing their tasks effectively, safely, and efficiently. According to the U.S. Department of Justice survey, in 2004 DoS attacks cost about $24 million to companies. In May 2005, a New Jersey teenaged cracker by the name of Jasmine Singh (a.k.a. Jatt and Pherk) pleaded guilty to carrying out DoS attacks against a Delran, New Jersey, online clothing store and 2,000 other online businesses between July and December, 2004, resulting in estimated business losses of $1 million. Singh used a botnet (a number of computers connected to the Internet, controlled from a single location without the owner of these computers being aware of this fact) to flood the targeted computers. Apparently Singh was hired over the Internet by an 18-year-old Michigan male, Jason Arabo, who had his own online retro-sports clothing company. Arabo wanted Singh to cause damage to his online competitors through the DoS exploits, and in exchange for his cyber duties, Arabo would “pay” Singh in terms of sneakers, jewelry, and sports clothing. Singh was convicted and sentenced to 5 years at the Garden State Youth Correctional Facility in Yardville.

See Also: Attack; Computer;Cracking; Exploit.