Security vendor Steganos has unveiled Steganos Safe One, a freeware version of Steganos Safe aimed at consumers and small businesses.

The privacy software provides protection for up to 2GB of sensitive data by creating two 1GB virtual drives which can store encrypted versions of the data.

A range of portable devices, including Apple's iPod, USB sticks, digital cameras and PDAs can be used as keys to open the 'safe', according to the company.

Steganos Safe One also features a fully integrated password generator to help users produce secure passwords.

Users creating unsafe passwords of their own are warned against doing so by a built-in multilingual dictionary, according to Steganos.

Steganos PicPass allows users to employ images as a personalised password by memorising their exact sequence.

"Almost everybody has private or personal data on their computers, and it is becoming increasingly important to find ways to protect that information from other users," said Aston Fallen, chief executive at Steganos.

"Steganos Safe One offers users real peace of mind, secure in the knowledge that their privacy is protected without them having to spend anything to do so. "

Steganos Safe One is now available for download. The software supports Windows XP for the x64 processor architecture, and encrypts data with 256 bit AES.