System, apparatus and method for platform protection against cold boot attacks

A system comprising:

• a memory controller to interface with a main memory;
• a processor coupled to the memory controller, the processor comprising an attack detection circuit to obtain a first thermal value from a storage, obtain a second thermal value from thermal information from the main memory, and calculate a rate of temperature change of the main memory based at least in part on the first thermal value, the second thermal value and a time duration, the attack detection circuit to raise a hardware exception in response to a result of a comparison of the rate of temperature change to a rate threshold that indicates a decrease in a temperature of the main memory, and in response to the hardware exception, to perform at least one protection measure on the main memory to erase at least some information stored in the main memory, to prevent extraction of the at least some information from the main memory;
• and
• the main memory coupled to the memory controller.

An apparatus comprising:

• an interface circuit to receive thermal information from a system memory;
• a calculation circuit to determine a rate of thermal change of the system memory based on a current temperature of the system memory, a prior temperature of the system memory, and a time duration, wherein at least one of the current temperature and the prior temperature is obtained from the thermal information;
• and
• a policy enforcement circuit, in response to the current temperature being lower than the prior temperature and a result of a comparison of the rate of thermal change to a rate threshold, to perform at least one protection measure on the system memory to erase at least some data stored in the system memory, to prevent extraction of the at least some data from the system memory.