Data Protection Method for Flash Memory in Serial Peripheral Interface

Abstract

We propose a general flash protection function for flash read/write/erase operations, to provide security for the contents. The 'read protection' changes all outputs of flash memory to specific data and the 'write/erase protection' ensures that all commands to flash memory are ignored. We also provide a function that can disable or restore the flash protection whenever a user wants by providing a valid password. The flash protection can be used in any kind of flash memory because it works at the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) level.