What type of attack involves overwhelming a system with traffic from multiple sources?

The question describes an attack that focuses on overwhelming a system with excessive traffic from various sources, which is characteristic of a Denial of Service (DoS) attack. In a DoS attack, the goal is to make a service unavailable to its intended users by flooding the system with more requests than it can handle.

When the attack comes from multiple sources, it is specifically referred to as a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. The sheer volume of requests overwhelms the target’s bandwidth, processing, or memory resources, preventing legitimate users from accessing the system or service. This type of attack exploits the architecture of networked systems and highlights the importance of robust cybersecurity measures to detect and mitigate such attacks by analyzing traffic patterns and strengthening defenses.