Name one common type of network attack.

A Denial of Service (DoS) attack is a prevalent type of network attack primarily characterized by its goal to make a network service unavailable to its intended users. This is typically achieved by overwhelming a system, server, or network resource with excessive traffic, thereby exhausting its resources and preventing legitimate users from accessing it.

Understanding DoS attacks is crucial as they can disrupt services for businesses and organizations significantly, causing downtime and potential financial losses. Furthermore, they can serve as a precursor to more sophisticated attacks, such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which involve multiple compromised systems targeting a single system.

In contrast, while phishing attacks, URL spoofing, and password cracking are all significant threats in the realm of network security, they primarily focus on deceiving users or compromising credentials rather than directly preventing access to services by overwhelming them with traffic. This distinction makes DoS attacks a particularly noteworthy type of network attack in discussions of network security vulnerabilities.