SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPERATING A COMPUTING DEVICE IN A SECURE MODE

A computing device operates in a secure operating mode in response to user selection. Computer hardware is initialized to verify a bootloader of an operating system, and the bootloader verifies the operating system kernel. The kernel then verifies operating-system level executable files. After verification, a limited set of the verified files is loaded into a portion of the memory that is subsequently marked by the kernel as read-only. These files are executed to provide a basic Internet browser session; all other files are identified as non-executable. When the user accesses an authorized website and conducts a transaction that requires a user to provide information, the information is encrypted during transmission of the network. In addition, such information cannot be accessed by other parties since the information provided is not persisted at the computing device.