What does a DDoS attack aim to achieve?

A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is designed to overwhelm a targeted server, service, or network with a flood of internet traffic. This surge in traffic results in the disruption of normal operations, which can render the targeted resources slow, unresponsive, or completely unavailable to legitimate users. The primary intention of a DDoS attack is not to enhance performance, improve encryption, or increase access; instead, it is focused on causing harm and disservice by making targeted services inaccessible. This type of attack often utilizes a botnet—a network of compromised computers—to generate massive amounts of traffic aimed at one or multiple targets, thereby achieving its disruptive goal.