"With so many businesses nowadays delivering their core services over the Internet, they cannot afford for customers' personal and financial information to be at risk when browsing the web," said Network Intercept's president and founder, Christopher Ciabarra.

Secure-Me comes in three versions, one for desktop and laptop PCs, a portable version on a USB stick (PC and Mac), and a mobile version for use on smartphones. An Apple iPhone version is promised.

After a 15-day trial, the PC version is £39.95 with a £39.95 annual service fee. The portable version is £89.95 for the USB stick with a £39.95 annual service fee. Use on smartphones such as the iPhone costs £14.95 with a £14.95 annual service fee.

In its design, Secure-Me takes the browser security on offer from Trusteer's free , announced some days ago, one stage further. Rapport is aimed more specifically at banking security, and requires integration by the bank to work effectively, whereas Secure-Me comes with its own cloud out of the box. That also explains why it is not free, and why there is an annual service charge.

For a single user Secure-Me is probably overkill, although it does hugely reduce the threat of browser-based attacks on online banking sessions. Corporate users will be more attracted to it, however, lured by using it as an intriguing alternative to a VPN. VPN can be slow and tiresome to configure where Secure-Me removes the configuration hassle and claims to be fast.