Transaction Guard

In the age of spyware, malware and other such nasty stuff, it is pretty difficult to protect your digital identity. Users need to think twice before logging in to a bank or financial services website on a public computer, or for that matter, even on a personal computer. Using the On-Screen Keyboard in Windows has been a neat way to defeat keyloggers that capture keystrokes and email the information to the writer of the program. You can use the keyboard on your windows machine by going to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Accessibility -> On-Screen Keyboard.

Trend Micro now offers a free tool that works in a similar fashion. The tool, also known as Transaction Guard, has two components. The first is a Spyware Monitor that monitors for spyware and notifies the user in case of a known intrusion attempt. The second is an On-Screen keyboard thats allows you to enter the username and password. If you already have Trend Micro Internet Security installed on your computer, you don’t need to install Transaction Guard separately. It is included with your program.

Though their website says it’s a tool to be used on public computers, I’m quite skeptical about it because most public computers (say at a library), restrict the privileges on these computers. I doubt if they allow users to install software. In that case, the On-Screen Keyboard that comes with Windows is the best bet. On your personal computer though, it is a good tool to have if you do internet banking and pay your bills online.

You can download the tool on this page

http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/security_solutions/transaction_guard.php

• Posted in: Internet