Deleting a webpage via 'malware DoS'

Question

I mean, we all know the DoS/DDoS where machine(s) are flooding servers/computers with traffic that it cannot handle. Eventually, it just goes down and nothing can connect to it, neither connect itself to anything.

But if I was for example, to make malware that would delete some important files and put itself on the server which hosts that site (or something else), and delete files which would cause it to again, go down. Would this be considered a DoS? Because I've technically denied the service of that server.

Answer 1

Denial of Service, as its name suggests, is any event which causes service to be denied, either to users or administrators, or any other entity which relies upon the system.

This can include anything from synfloods to smashing the server with a sledgehammer. As such, yes, your example would be considered a denial of service.

Answer 2

Yes, you are correct. That is, by definition, a Denial of Service.

Before Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) came to the fore, DoS was the staple attack form where malware would, for instance, force excessive CPU or memory usage on the victim server. This is considered a valid Denial of Service as the server is restricted in ability to serve new connections.

Since you are deleting the target webpage, and the client experience does get affected, it a Denial of Service. If however, you deleted a webpage /testpage.html but the client only refers to /index.html, it is not a DoS.