A one-two-three assault of disparate spammer and hacker groups in the last 24 hours bodes nothing but ill for users, a security expert said Thursday.

The attack, which involves a new combination of malicious code, shows evidence of "tactical coordination that is unprecedented," said Sam Curry, vice president of Computer Associates' eTrust security group.

Unlike blended threats, which were first popular two years ago -- and in which one piece of malicious code uses multiple tricks or tactics to spread -- this recent attack is a convergence of malware itself and its creators, Curry went on.

"They're collaborating, and making quite an effective parcel," said Curry.

Curry outlined the three-step process, which he characterized as "spread, disarm, and exploit," as starting with the Glieder Trojan horse. Wednesday, said Curry, at least eight Glieder variants -- which are similar enough to the Bagle worm that many security firms label them as such -- hit the Web, one after another, "about one each hour." According to another security researcher, Carole Theriault of Sophos, that pace continued into Thursday.

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