Patent ID: 8127135

Claim:
A system, comprising: a hardware processor to execute a first operating environment and a second operating environment; wherein said first and second operating environments exchange information in encrypted form using a shared encryption key (K 3 ); wherein said first and second operating environments exchange messages to change said encryption key K 3 based on the occurrence of a predetermined number of communications between said first and second operating environments, said messages are encrypted using another shared encryption key (K 4 ), said encryption key K 4 being changed upon said encryption key K 3 being changed; wherein each of said first and second operating environments is configured to initiate a communication with the other of said first and second operating environments to change said encryption key K 3 and said encryption key K 4 ; and wherein said first operating environment comprises one of an operating system (OS) and a basic input/output system (BIOS) and the second operating environment comprises the other of said OS and BIOS.