What aspect of the CIA Triad is violated by a DDoS attack that overwhelms a computer system with excessive requests?

A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack primarily violates the availability aspect of the CIA Triad. The purpose of a DDoS attack is to overwhelm a targeted machine or network with a flood of internet traffic, thereby rendering it unable to respond to legitimate requests. This results in the system being unavailable to users who are trying to access it, causing a disruption of service.

In the context of the CIA Triad, availability refers to ensuring that information and resources are accessible to authorized users when needed. By overwhelming the system with excessive requests, a DDoS attack prevents legitimate users from accessing the services, leading to service outages.

While the other aspects of the CIA Triad — confidentiality, integrity, and authentication — are important facets of data security, they are not directly impacted in the same manner by a DDoS attack as availability is. Confidentiality relates to protecting information from unauthorized access, integrity is about maintaining the accuracy and trustworthiness of data, and authentication involves verifying the identity of users. In a DDoS context, these aspects may remain intact while availability is severely compromised.