What is the primary goal of a Denial of Service (DoS) attack in the context of industrial control systems?

The primary goal of a Denial of Service (DoS) attack is to disrupt the availability of a system or network. In the context of industrial control systems, which are critical for the operation of essential services and infrastructure, ensuring availability is paramount. A successful DoS attack targets the resources of these systems, flooding them with excessive requests or exploiting vulnerabilities, causing them to become overwhelmed and inoperable.

By focusing on rendering systems unavailable, such attacks can lead to significant operational disruptions, affecting production, safety, and overall system functionality. This is particularly concerning in industrial environments where uptime can directly impact safety, productivity, and financial performance.

Other options like stealing confidential data or altering system configurations are more aligned with information theft or integrity attacks rather than availability. Injecting malware, while also a significant threat, encapsulates different objectives primarily concerned with malicious modifications rather than outright system unavailability. Therefore, option B accurately captures the essence of a DoS attack's intent within the realm of industrial control systems.