What type of attack is typically characterized by overwhelming a system with traffic to disrupt services?

A Denial of Service (DoS) attack is primarily characterized by overwhelming a system, server, or network with excessive traffic to disrupt services, making them unavailable to legitimate users. This type of attack aims to exhaust the resources of the target, such as bandwidth, CPU, or memory, causing legitimate requests to be denied.

This technique can be executed in various ways, including sending an enormous volume of requests or exploiting vulnerabilities to crash the system. The objective of a DoS attack is straightforward: to interrupt or degrade the services provided by the target, often leading to a service outage and affecting business operations and user access.

In contrast, the other attack types mentioned serve different purposes and operate using different methods. Phishing attacks involve tricking users into revealing sensitive information, man-in-the-middle attacks intercept and alter communications between two parties, and SQL injection attacks exploit vulnerabilities in database queries to manipulate data. Each of these attacks has distinct impacts and mechanisms, setting them apart from the service disruption characteristic of a DoS attack.