Monday a major Y2K test as U.S. returns to work

Computer Associates International, a software analysis company, warned Sunday that hackers would be playing on computer users' Y2K fears by introducing viruses and additional destructive computer programs onto the Internet.

It said in a statement that a new Portuguese "Happy New Year" program called "Feliz.Trojan" is disguised as a benign application and could cause damage if opened.

Computer Associates also warned of a new Microsoft Word macro virus called "Armagidon," which infects Word documents by spreading through e-mails, shared drives and floppy disks.

U.S. officials Sunday responded to criticism that too much money -- an estimated $100 billion in the United States alone -- and attention was paid to the Y2K problem.

"If they didn't fix the systems, they would not be functioning," Koskinen said Sunday. "Somebody said we did it too well, we made it look too easy. Maybe that's right. Maybe we should have had a control group over here failing."

On CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson declared, "This was worth it."

"In this case, the fizzle was good," Richardson said. "The fact the fire department didn't have to put out any fires this weekend doesn't mean we shouldn't have a fire department."

Koskinen told CNN on Sunday that the Pentagon failed to notify him about a major Y2K computer problem that blinded several orbiting U.S. spy satellites Friday until 15 hours after the problem was discovered.

The Pentagon problem, which was repaired in a few hours, was one of the largest Y2K-related problems the United States has faced, Koskinen said.

Koskinen defended the Pentagon's decision to keep the satellite glitch quiet.

"As you can imagine, when you have a problem like that you don't talk about it until you get it fixed," he said. "We don't want to give our enemies anymore information than they need," Koskinen said.

A glitch also affected a program in a French defense satellite. The satellite, called the Syracuse II, links Paris with French peacekeeping forces in Kosovo. The French Defense Ministry said the glitch had no effect on troops in the field.

With so few reports of trouble, Y2K centers worldwide scaled back staffs. Officials at the U.S. government's $50 million command center considered ending 24-hour operations as early as Tuesday; they had planned to work round-the-clock through Friday.

Canada has canceled all its Y2K briefings for the coming days. Britain's Government Millennium Center was expected to have a staff of 15 by Monday, down from 40 people on Friday night.

Singapore Airlines closed its Y2K command center Sunday, and the International Civil Aviation Organization -- the U.N. agency responsible for air safety -- sent some workers home, as did the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York has reduced its Y2K monitoring staff as well, according to a spokesman.

Correspondents Peter Viles and Chris Burns and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.