That is until somebody writes a simple script to utilize the protocol to overload an end server with requests, then a server not equipped to handle such a load will fail due to an exploit that wasn't immediately obvious (of course it is now. It's an assumed part of best practice for any large project.)

The protocol doesn't offer any recourse itself, and the end user who might suffer because of such an attack has no defense. They rely on the ability of the engineers involved and some technical voodoo they don't understand to keep everything safe and working for them. That's my point -- I wasn't comparing the technologies directly, but their roles in a larger system.