What laws relate to Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks?

[Lee Grey]

I'm trying to understand the laws around Distributed Denial of Service
(DDoS) attacks. If you don't know what that is, it's the term used to
describe when a hacker installs his robot software on multiple computers
illegally and then controls them remotely, causing them to all flood the
same site with an overwhelming amount of internet traffic.

As I understand it, this is illegal, but it's not clear to me what the laws
are that it violates. Obviously, it is a form of computer tampering to
break into a computer system and install software against the will or
without permission of the owner. That's clear.

What's not so clear to me is the laws around the rest of the DDoS itself.
Are there laws regarding the act of causing a flood of traffic? If so, what
is the actual wording? Is there a site where these laws are posted? I'm
wondering whether the actual flood of traffic is written into law, or if it
is only the accompanying act of breaking into a computer system that has
been legislated.

I appreciate any input.

Sincerely,
Lee Grey
Grey Matter
http://www.URLinOne.com