This document provides an overview of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. It discusses the components and architecture of DDoS attacks and classifies them into four categories: flood attacks, amplification attacks, TCP SYN attacks, and malformed packet attacks. Specific attack types like UDP floods, ICMP floods, Smurf attacks and Fraggle attacks are described. The document also covers DDoS defense problems and classifications such as intrusion prevention, detection, tolerance and response. It concludes that DDoS attacks are difficult to prevent due to readily available tools and the ability to target any internet host, and that the best defense involves vigilant system administration.