Although neither man knew it yet, the Web's most popular portal was being bombarded with enough confusing information to cause the digital equivalent of a nervous breakdown. Normally, Yahoo absorbs a couple hundred million bits of data each second, meaning it can handle millions of Yahoo users asking simultaneously for, say, the lowdown on Ricky Martin without breaking much of a sweat. But now Yahoo's Internet service provider, Global Crossing--Hannan's company--was clogging up with as …showed first 75 words of 1441 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1441 total…period when a very small number of persons can do greater damage to our American infrastructure than all our previous wars combined," frets Bobbitt. That may sound a little alarmist, on the basis of three days of DOS attacks on a handful of commercial websites. The danger is real. But as with many terrorist strikes, the fear caused by a faceless attacker has, so far, turned out to be more potent than the attack itself.