A US security company has unveiled an anti-phishing appliance known as the Spam Cube.

The device sits either between a PC and broadband modem, or a PC and router, on both wired and wireless networks.

Spam Cube claims to work with every operating system and nearly all email providers, protecting up to four home computers at once.

The device is priced at $150 and has its own built-in anti-spam technology which means no subscription cost.

The company offers an optional service called Security OnDemand which deletes email viruses from inboxes and alerts users whenever they receive a fraudulent email.

For an annual rate of $52, Security OnDemand provides McAfee and Norton antivirus, and Spam Cube's anti-phishing technology.

"I'd turn on my computer and check my email and have 200 new messages," said Spam Cube chief executive Joseph P. Marino.

"About 10 of them would be real emails. And some would look real at first, but I could tell they were phishing emails. It was getting out of control."

"Phishing emails are someone posing as your bank, eBay or Amazon and requesting your account information or your credit card number. Actually, they just want to steal your money or, even worse, your identity."