Denial of service training: The Noon Deadline

Denial of Service Attacks training in a 2:44 animated story. It covers What an outage attack looks like; extortion emails; report, don’t "fix". In English and Arabic, with captions you can switch on or off, and a scenario quiz at the end.

What your team will learn

Identify how a denial of service attack looks from a desk (like any outage: a service suddenly slow or down for everyone at once, customers too), and state that on its own it blocks the way in rather than locking your files.
Report an email that threatens an outage with the Report button, without replying, spreading it to colleagues or paying.
State what to do in an outage: report it to your security team if there's no update yet, follow the official update, give customers only its words, and don't try to fix it or find a way round it.

The story

“The Noon Deadline” is the story at the heart of this course. Omar (IT support lead) is the lead character; the learner watches the situation unfold, spots the warning signs, and sees the right thing to do. Set in Nakhlora Group, a fictional Gulf company.

Sample quiz question

At 11:10, Omar opens an email in the IT Service Desk mailbox: "Pay AED 75,000 in cryptocurrency by 12:00, or your website goes down." What should he do first?

Post it to All staff, so everyone knows not to pay.
Press Report on the email at once, and don't reply to it.
Reply and ask for proof that the threat is real.
Wait until 12:00 to see whether the threat is real.

Correct answer: Press Report on the email at once, and don't reply to it.

Why: The threat is part of the attack. Reporting it at once gives the security team time to get ready; a reply only tells the attacker someone is reading.

Full transcript

Transcript of the English video. The Arabic transcript is on the Arabic page.

The Noon Deadline [0:01] Omar: Seventy-five thousand dirhams by noon, or our website goes down? And a demo first? [0:07] Narrator: At eleven fifteen, as promised, the website barely loads for two minutes. [0:14] Omar: They're already asking. Better they hear it from IT Support first. [0:19] Narrator: In three minutes, over two hundred people read it. Everyone has an idea. [0:27] Layla: Take that post down, Omar. Real or fake, report threats to us. We decide what staff hear. [0:34] Omar: You're right, my mistake. Deleting it and reporting the email now. [0:40] Narrator: Four people replied before it came down. Three make it worse. Can you spot them? [0:51] Layla: Rob wants to reply? No. A reply shows someone's reading, and invites more pressure. [0:57] Omar: Karim's asking if paying costs less than a day offline. [1:02] Layla: Paying doesn't guarantee they'll stop. It tells them we pay. And it's never a staff decision. [1:08] Layla: And tell Arjun: don't try to fix it yourself, or find a way round it. [1:18] Narrator: Noon, as promised. The website won't load for staff or customers; the payment page times out. [1:26] Omar: Yes, we know. Please don't restart anything. Watch Company updates. [1:32] Narrator: A denial of service attack floods a website with fake visitors, like empty cars jamming a road. [1:39] Narrator: Real customers can't get in. On its own, it blocks the door; it doesn't lock your files. [1:47] Narrator: The security team posts the official update. Take your news from it, not rumours. Tell customers only what it says. [1:57] Rob: I can't say more yet. We're aware of it and working on it. [2:03] Narrator: From a desk, an attack looks like any outage: a service suddenly slow or down for everyone, customers too. [2:11] Narrator: No update yet? Report it to your security team. If there is one, follow it. [2:19] Layla: It's blocked, and the site's back. Early reports gave us time to get ready. [2:26] Omar: Thanks, Karim, but don't forward these. Press Report on the original. [2:32] Narrator: Threat or outage: report it. Don't reply, spread or try to fix it. Press Report, or contact your security team.

Key facts

Length (English)	2:44
Length (Arabic)	3:12
Languages	English · العربية
Captions	WebVTT
Quiz bank	14
Questions shown	10
Pass mark	80
Lead character	Omar — IT support lead
LMS id	2033