Patent ID: 7380278

Claim:
A processing system, comprising: a processor capable of operating in (a) a normal ring 0 operating mode, (b) one or more higher ring operating modes above the normal ring 0 operating mode, and (c) an isolated execution mode; random access memory responsive to the processor, the random access memory to include (a) an ordinary memory area that can be accessed from the normal ring 0 operating mode, and (b) an isolated memory area that can be accessed from the isolated execution mode but not from the normal ring 0 operating mode; an operating system (OS) nub in the processing system; a key generator to generate an OS nub key (OSNK) based at least in part on an identification of the OS nub and a master binding key (BK 0 ) of the processing system; a usage protector to utilize the OSNK to detect modification of a software environment in the processing system; and wherein the OS nub comprises part of an OS to run on the processing system.