Which statement best describes a DDoS attack?

Which statement best describes a DDoS attack?

• A. It floods a target with traffic from many sources to overwhelm it
• B. It updates malware signatures on endpoints
• C. It decrypts encrypted traffic on the network
• D. It routes traffic through a single gateway to degrade service

Answer: (A)

A DDoS attack is defined by overwhelming a target’s resources by flooding it with traffic from many different sources. The key idea is distribution: the attacker uses numerous compromised devices or networks to send a high volume of requests, exhausting bandwidth, CPU, or memory so legitimate users can’t access the service. This contrasts with a single-source attack, where only one origin could be blocked or mitigated. Context helps: think of the target as a road with limited capacity. One car cause a traffic jam, but a concerted influx of cars from many directions can completely block the road. In cybersecurity, that “blockage” is the denial of service. Why the other statements don’t describe a DDoS: updating malware signatures on endpoints is about defense and protection, not an attack. decrypting encrypted traffic involves breaking or bypassing encryption, not overwhelming a service with traffic. Routing all traffic through a single gateway creates a bottleneck, but it relies on a single point rather than many sources, so it isn’t distributed.

A DDoS attack is defined by overwhelming a target’s resources by flooding it with traffic from many different sources. The key idea is distribution: the attacker uses numerous compromised devices or networks to send a high volume of requests, exhausting bandwidth, CPU, or memory so legitimate users can’t access the service. This contrasts with a single-source attack, where only one origin could be blocked or mitigated.

Context helps: think of the target as a road with limited capacity. One car cause a traffic jam, but a concerted influx of cars from many directions can completely block the road. In cybersecurity, that “blockage” is the denial of service.

Why the other statements don’t describe a DDoS: updating malware signatures on endpoints is about defense and protection, not an attack. decrypting encrypted traffic involves breaking or bypassing encryption, not overwhelming a service with traffic. Routing all traffic through a single gateway creates a bottleneck, but it relies on a single point rather than many sources, so it isn’t distributed.