A distributed-denial-of-service, or DDoS attack is the bombardment of simultaneous data requests to a central server. The attacker generates these requests from multiple compromised systems to exhaust the target’s Internet bandwidth and RAM in an attempt to crash the target’s system and disrupt business. During a DDoS attack, a series of bots, or botnet, floods a website or service with HTTP requests and traffic . Essentially, multiple computers storm one computer during an attack, pushing out legitimate users. As a result, service can be delayed or otherwise disrupted for a length of time. What is an RPS or Application Layer DDoS Attack While volumetric attacks and — to a lesser extent — protocol attacks compromise a service with the sheer number of requests, application layer attacks , or layer 7 attacks , target an edge server that executes a web application.
