Detection of a cold boot memory attack in a data processing system

摘要

A method is provided for detecting a cold boot attack in a data processing system. The data processing system includes a processor, a memory with ECC, and a monitor circuit. In the method, during a boot process of the data processing system, the monitor circuit counts read and write accesses to the memory and maintains a count of the number of errors in the memory detected by the ECC. The read and write access count and the error count are used to detect suspicious activity that may indicate a cold boot attack on the memory. A data processing system that implements the method is also provided.