Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a denial of service attack?

A denial of service attack (DoS) is primarily aimed at making a network service unavailable to its intended users, generally by overwhelming it with traffic or exploiting vulnerabilities. The primary characteristics of such attacks involve disrupting service availability, flooding bandwidth, and affecting server performance.

Targeting specific user accounts is not a defining element of a denial of service attack. Rather, it is more characteristic of attacks such as account takeovers or phishing, which focus on individual user credentials and access rather than aiming to inhibit a service’s availability on a larger scale. This distinction is crucial because, while a DoS attack disrupts the overall service for all users, it does not typically focus on specific accounts to cause harm or disruption. Thus, the identified option accurately reflects a characteristic that does not align with the common goals or methods of denial of service attacks.