With corporate systems becoming increasingly tough to crack, hackers will focus on collecting the personal information of vulnerable home users in 2004, internet experts have warned.

Speaking in Sydney, AusCERT general manager Graham Ingram said the increasingly prevalent "phishing" scams, which attempt to collect user details via bulk emails and fake websites, would be joined by more types of fraud as more criminals realised the potential of the internet and became better at using it.

"Extortion and other types of traditional fraud will find their way onto the internet," Mr Ingram said. Corporate users were becoming better at combatting internet security problems, but this was not mirrored among home users, he said.

"One of the great concerns that I have is the mums and dads," Mr Ingram said.

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