SEPARATION OF SOFTWARE MODULES BY CONTROLLED ENCRYPTION KEY MANAGEMENT

In an aspect, a method for protecting software includes obtaining a payload including at least one of instructions or data, establishing a realm in a memory device, encrypting the payload based on an ephemeral encryption key (EEK) associated with the realm, and storing the encrypted payload in the realm of the memory device. In another aspect, a method for protecting software includes receiving a memory transaction associated with the memory device, the memory transaction including at least a realm identifier (RID) and a realm indicator bit, obtaining the EEK associated with the RID when the RID indicates the realm and when the realm indicator bit is enabled, decrypting an instruction and/or data retrieved from the realm based on the EEK when the memory transaction is a read transaction, and encrypting second data for storage in the realm based on the EEK when the memory transaction is a write transaction.