an apparatus and method are disclosed for protecting the contents of a shared memory in a memory device controlled by an embedded controller . the apparatus allows dynamic setting of access permissions to said contents and allows updating and recovery of the contents . a computerized system comprising at least one host linked to the memory device provides access paths to the shared memory , to the host , and to the embedded controller . an arbitration device for allocating access paths to the memory device is also provided . the memory device is partitioned into separate blocks , each of which is used to store different types of data . a location is designated in the shared memory for storing protection information that includes data related to access operations allowed by at least one access path to a part of the shared memory . access , via the arbitration device , to separate parts of the shared memory is permitted by using an access control unit that enables / disables access to predetermined portions of the shared memory by at least one of the access paths .