Internet Worm Caused Widespread "Collateral Damage"

The weekend attack on the Internet crippled some sensitive corporate and government systems, including banking operations and 911 centers, far more seriously than many experts believed possible. President Bush's No. 2 cyber-security adviser, Howard Schmidt, acknowledged that what he called "collateral damage" stunned even experts who have warned about uncertain effects on the nation's most important electronic systems from mass-scale Internet disruptions.