Confidential information protection system and method

Abstract

Efficient and effective permission confidential information protection systems and methods are described. The secure information protection systems and methods facilitate storage of confidential information in a manner safe from rogue software access. In one embodiment, a confidential information protection method is implemented in hardware and facilitates protection against software and/or Operating System hacks. In one exemplary implementation, a confidential information protection method includes setting a permission sticky bit flag to a default state upon system set up. The permission sticky bit flag access permission indication is adjusted at system reset in accordance with an initial application instruction. Access to the confidential information is restricted in accordance with the permission sticky bit and the permission sticky bit is protected from adjustments attempting to violate the permission indication. For example, another software application can not access or alter confidential information (e.g., an encryption key, initialization vector, etc.) if a permission sticky bit is designated as the highest security rating (e.g., disabling read permission and write permission until system reset).