"If it is a systemic problem then you could justify the cost," he said. "In this agency we do regular reviews of threats, because we are responsible for paying all government accounts so it's important to have robust systems and rigorous procedures."

Irvine believes the technology could potentially become pervasive but is up to the organization to determine where the risks lie, and "we have checks and balances to stop fraud".

Sabratec spokesman Boaz Krelbaum said Intellinx is unique in that it includes legacy mainframe and AS/400 applications.

"The product monitors the enterprise environment, not private things," Krelbaum said. "Intellinx can decrypt encrypted information once a private key is given."

When installed, the Linux, Java, and DB2-based appliance acts like a black box that "records everything", but end users can customize it in accordance with business rules.