Sentry Bay Personal Data Protection Suite

Sentry Bay's Personal Data Protection Suite is designed to protect against both spyware and phishing attacks.

It doesn't replace any other security software – instead it complements it, though it has some features in common with the Trusteer Rapport software that is hyped by various British banks.

The idea is that Sentry Bay scrambles data you enter at the keyboard so that if a piece of spyware tries to pick it up, it won't succeed. The receiving website will get it fine, however. It also protects against spyware programs that try to take screen grabs by blocking automated screen grabs altogether. However, this means the Snipping Tool in Windows 7 and Vista won't work.

It also protects against phishing sites – however, we were able to get through to a phishing site without the program warning us so in that sense it's no better than the phishing protection built into some browsers and security programs.

At £30 the Sentry Bay software is overpriced. The phishing protection in most browsers, combined with common sense, is more than adequate protection against attacks.