efficient and effective permission confidential information protection systems and methods are described . the secure information protection systems and methods facilitate storage of confidential information in a manner safe from rogue software access . in one embodiment , a confidential information protection method is implemented in hardware and facilitates protection against software and / or operating system hacks . in one exemplary implementation , a confidential information protection method includes setting a permission sticky bit flag to a default state upon system set up . the permission sticky bit flag access permission indication is adjusted at system reset in accordance with an initial application instruction . access to the confidential information is restricted in accordance with the permission sticky bit and the permission sticky bit is protected from adjustments attempting to violate the permission indication . for example , another software application can not access or alter confidential information if a permission sticky bit is designated as the highest security rating .