TCP SYN flood attack: A type of denial-of-service (DoS) attack that aims to make a server unavailable by overwhelming it with connection requests. The attacker sends a series of TCP SYN (synchronization) packets to the target server, each appearing to come from a different source, which prompts the server to allocate resources to await the completion of each connection. However, the attacker never completes the connections, causing the server to become overwhelmed with incomplete connections and eventually making the server unavailable to legitimate users.
Categories: CC D4: Network Security | CCSP D4: Cloud Application Security | CISM D4: Incident Management | CISSP D4: Communication and Network Security | Security+ D2: Threats Vulnerabilities and Mitigations | SSCP D6: Network and Communication Security
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