Aside from hacking, there are still other computer network security threats that you should be aware of and one of which is the denial of service attack or commonly known as DoS attack.
In today's world, a lot of us rely on automation and with the technology it is not impossible for us to do certain things with the help of computers. But then again, there are threats – threats that are also "automated".
Denial of service attack is a type of attack to the service which can down the system for a specific duration of time. The perpetrator is sending multiple requests to the server until such time that the server can no longer cater the requests of the perpetrator causing the system to shut itself down. The result, server down and no one else can access the service.
One example of this is a website wherein the perpetrator sends page request to the server in such an overwhelming manner causing the server to close.In order to successfully down a server, the perpetrator still needs a certain number of computers to send requests to server. This is where Distributed Denial of Service attack comes in wherein the perpetrator infects multiple computers so that they may be able to send requests to the server without the consent of the owner of the infected computer. These computers are then called zombies since they are being controlled by the perpetrator to send requests to a particular server.
Now that you know about some of the common network security threats, it is important that you keep your computer free from the viruses which make your computer a "zombie" and prevent the perpetrators on gaining control of your computer without you knowing it.
You can install a reliable antivirus software to help you have protection against such.