Exploring Attacks on Availability: How Losing Access Can Cost Everything
What is an availability attack?
An availability attack is a class of cyber attacks that limit the accessibility and availability of a system by overloading a system through ransomware or viruses. A common example of an availability attack would be when hackers will overload a system where normal functionality is prohibited and leads to a shutdown caused by either the user or the hacker.
What is an example of an availability attack and how does it affect the company?
Hackers tend to target critical infrastructures such as utilities companies, health care facilities, and emergency services because of how much people rely on them for basic living and emergency situations. On April 9, 2025, Sensata, an industrial manufacturing company out of Massachusetts, was the victim of a DDoS attack that shut down parts of their industrial processes such as shipping, receiving, and manufacturing processes. Thankfully, the attack did not completely shut down the company; however, it still slowed down shipment of critical products such as automotive parts and electrical production components. Despite the low impact this attack had on Sensata, it is evidence that any availability attack, large or small, will hurt any company’s assets such as their finances or productivity.
What are some broader implications of availability attacks on users or organizations?
Although these types of cyber attacks are relatively small, they still prove to be dangerous for both the safety of users and the organizations. Not only that, but the number of DDoS attacks have grown significantly in the past decade. According to Cloud Flare, there was a 53% increase in cyber attacks and they blocked approximately 21.3 million of them in 2024. While most of these attacks have minimal impact on organizations, they still pose a threat to the privacy and safety of both the users and the organizations.
References
Berghout, T., Benbouzid, M., & Muyeen, S. M. (2022, July 6). Availability attack. Availability Attack – an overview | ScienceDirect Topics. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/availability-attack
Greig, J. (2025, April 9). Industrial tech manufacturer Sensata says ransomware attack is impacting production. Cyber Security News | The Record. https://therecord.media/sensata-technologies-ransomware-attack
Otto, G. (2025, January 22). Cloudflare detected (and blocked) the biggest ddos attack on record. CyberScoop. https://cyberscoop.com/cloudflare-biggest-ddos-attack-mirai-variant-botnet/