DoS attack

// [Usenet,common; note that it's unrelated to DOS as name of an operating
system] Abbreviation for Denial-Of-Service attack. This abbreviation is most
often used of attempts to shut down newsgroups with floods of spam , or to
flood network links with large amounts of traffic, or to flood network links
with large amounts of traffic, often by abusing network broadcast addresses.
Compare slashdot effect.