Which of the following is NOT a consequence of a successful Denial of Service attack?

In the context of a Denial of Service (DoS) attack, the primary goal is to disrupt the normal functioning of a targeted server, service, or network, by overwhelming it with a flood of traffic or requests. As a result, several significant consequences can occur when such an attack is successful.

Financial loss is a common outcome, as businesses may experience decreased revenue due to service outages or may incur costs related to mitigating the attack. Damage to reputation is also a critical consequence, as customers may lose trust in a company that experiences frequent or severe downtime, leading to long-term impacts on their business relations. Operational downtime is another direct consequence of a DoS attack, affecting a system's availability and productivity, as services become unreachable or sluggish due to the flood of traffic.

In stark contrast, increased system performance contradicts the nature of a Denial of Service attack. Rather than improving system performance, a DoS attack typically degrades it, as legitimate requests are unable to be processed effectively amidst the overwhelming traffic. This makes the option of increased system performance not just unlikely but fundamentally incompatible with the premise of a successful Denial of Service attack.