Lewis, who has set up a UK company - Secure-me.co.uk - to promote the customised and enhanced version of Mozilla Firefox, is taking a different pricing strategy to Network Intercept in the US with the UK offering.

In use, Secure-Me is billed as offering a secure desktop Windows/Mac OS browser that encrypts all IP traffic leaving from, or coming to, the user's PC, as well as accelerating the user's web browsing speeds by up to three times and enabling users to surf the web anonymously.

According to Lewis, integral virus and malware detection will scan every website for malicious scripts.

UK desktop users will be charged £39.95 for a year's secure internet surfing, with the IP calls routed to a set of US servers to ensure anonymity and, Infosecurity notes, the ability to access US web content from the UK and elsewhere in the world.

The customised version of Firefox allows users to prevent identity theft, secure their internet browsing and protect users' privacy, says Lewis.

In the US, the Secure-Me package has been quite successful with around 10,000 paying users, who can elect to take a range of extra services.

In the UK, however, Lewis told Infosecurity that the standard desktop version of the enhanced browser-based service, including unlimited proxy-based IP transmissions, sells for £39.95, with a secure USB version available for an upfront payment of £89.95 and then charged as per the desktop package for the second year and beyond..

"The secure USB is a secure copy of the software on a specialised USB key that runs on whatever PC it is plugged into" he said, adding that a smartphone edition of the software and service will also be available at £14.95 a year.

The Secure-Me Mobile edition is available as a download for Android, iPhone, Symbian, and Windows mobile platforms.

Plans call for the software and service to be sold initially via the internet and then via resellers plus internet service providers as a value-added option for their subscribers.