Online banking offers tremendous benefits as well, saving loads of time, paper, and hassle. You can check balances, transfer funds, and pay bills, all from the comfort of home. And with more and more companies providing online services, you can use the Internet to manage your investments, health care benefits, and other important business.

However, you need to be aware that doing business online comes with some very real risks.

Online transactions involve some of our most sensitive personal and financial information. While most businesses use encryption to make sure the data we send over their Web sites is protected, cybercriminals can still find ways to capture our private information.

Phishing and pharming are notorious examples. In these scams, cybercriminals use fake emails or Web pages to trick people into divulging account numbers, passwords, and even social security numbers. If they can get their hands on that kind of information, they’re only a few clicks away from raiding your accounts or using your identity to commit fraud.

Cybercriminals have also developed keyloggers and other crimeware to simply steal personal information. Keyloggers capture everything you type into your computer—be it a user name, password, or account number—and then transmit that information back to the cybercriminals.

When it comes to securing your transactions, it seems there have always been more questions than answers. Are my passwords and credit card numbers safe when I send them into cyberspace? Can my security software detect and remove crimeware? Is there an easy way to tell fake emails and Web sites from legitimate ones?

There has never been a simple way to answer these questions, and without a true transaction security solution many of us do little more than check whether commerce sites are using some sort of security measures, and then just hope for the best.

Norton Confidential not only removes the uncertainty associated with online transactions, it makes those transactions safer. With tools designed to ferret out scams, protect passwords, and block crimeware, you can be confident your information is safe and your transactions are secure.

To combat phishing and pharming, Norton Confidential automatically detects and blocks fake Web sites. It also authenticates major banking and shopping Web sites. So, as you go about your everyday business on the Web, you can be confident most of the sites you are using are legitimate.

You’ll also have new confidence in the integrity of your passwords. With its password security features, Norton Confidential encrypts passwords for secure storage, monitors them for unapproved usage, and notifies you when a Web site offers secure login capabilities (i.e., encrypted user name and password transmission).

Meanwhile, Norton Confidential blocks known keyloggers and other crimeware. With innovative detection technology, it analyzes the behavior of applications to identify anything that even appears suspicious.

Finally, Norton Confidential can operate either alone or as part of a comprehensive security system. It works hand in hand with Symantec’s full line of security offerings, including antivirus, antispam, antispyware, and firewall protection.

From phishing to crimeware to identity theft, doing business online comes with real risk. However, with Norton Confidential’s groundbreaking features, managing that risk just got much easier—and online transactions just got a whole lot safer.