I’m sure you know, that a malicious attack can shut down operations with catastrophic results to the longevity of the business. In the following article, we will do our best to illustrate what small business owners encounter when they have discovered a malicious IT breach intended on shutting down operations in seek of a ransom payment. So what is a Denial-of-service attack? An application layer DDoS attack (sometimes referred to as layer 7 DDoS attack) is a form of DDoS attack where attackers target application-layer processes. The attack over-exercises specific functions or features of a website with the intention to disable those functions or features. A Ddos attack on the other hand, is a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, which targets websites and servers by disrupting network services. DDoS attacks achieve effectiveness by utilizing multiple compromised computer systems as sources of attack traffic. A DDoS attack attempts to exhaust an application’s resources. The malicious hackers behind these attacks are known to flood a site with fake traffic, resulting in poor website functionality, or even just knocking it offline altogether. DDoS meaning: What is DDoS? Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are a subclass of denial of service (DoS) attacks. A DDoS attack involves multiple connected online devices, collectively known as a botnet, which are used to overwhelm a target website with fake traffic.