The document summarizes the effects of a computer worm that disrupted AT&T's phone network on January 15. A flaw in AT&T's System Seven software caused a broadcast message from a 4ESS machine in New York to trigger similar messages from 114 other 4ESS machines nationwide. This overwhelmed the signaling network with messages and prevented most calls from connecting. The incident highlighted AT&T's lack of redundancy and vulnerability from centralized operations. While the specific cause was still unknown, it showed the risks of putting blind faith in technology without understanding how systems work.