Which type of attack seeks to overwhelm a network with traffic?

A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack is designed specifically to overwhelm a network, service, or application by flooding it with an excessive amount of traffic. In this type of attack, numerous compromised devices—often referred to as a botnet—contribute to the flood of requests, making it extremely difficult for the targeted server or network to manage legitimate requests. This results in service disruption, rendering the targeted system unavailable to regular users.

This approach is predominantly successful because it exploits the available bandwidth and processing power of the target, causing slowdowns or total unavailability. By sending too many data packets at once, the attack makes it impossible for the system to differentiate between legitimate users and attackers, ultimately leading to a denial of service.

Other options, such as phishing attacks, SQL injections, and man-in-the-middle attacks, focus on exploiting vulnerabilities in human behavior, databases, and communication channels, respectively, rather than overwhelming systems with traffic.