Sockstress is a method that is used to attack servers on the Internet and other networks utilizing TCP, including Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD and any router or other internet appliance that accepts TCP connections. The method does this by attempting to use up local resources in order to crash a service or the entire machine, essentially a denial of service attack. Sockstress was developed as internal proof-of-concept by the late Jack C. Louis at Outpost24. Louis discovered anomalies using Unicornscan to test and probe networks for corporate security, which led to the development of Sockstress. The concept was first demonstrated in September 2008.
In August 2013, Outpost24 AB released the code as GPLv2. This project aims to maintain and develop the original code.