Which of the following is an example of a Denial of Service (DoS) attack?

In the context of cybersecurity, a Denial of Service (DoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal functioning of a targeted server, service, or network by overwhelming it with a flood of traffic. The key characteristic of a DoS attack is that it seeks to render the targeted resources unavailable to legitimate users.

Excessive requests to a server exemplify this principle, as the attacker sends an overwhelming number of requests that the server cannot handle, effectively causing it to become slow or entirely unresponsive. This impacts the availability of the service for legitimate users, which is the fundamental purpose of a DoS attack.

In contrast, other options relate to different types of cyber threats. Traffic analysis involves examining network traffic to gather information rather than disrupting service. SQL injection targets a database by manipulating queries to access or alter data, but it does not specifically aim to deny service. Stealing credentials is focused on gaining unauthorized access to accounts rather than affecting availability.