according to the present invention , access to a password area in a nonvolatile memory cannot be granted by simple supply of an address in a normal order . according to one preferable mode , for instance , a trap address is set in the password area so that reading information from the password area is permitted only when the password area is accessed without accessing the trap address , whereas when the password area is accessed the trap address , whereas when the password area is access through the trap address , information reading is inhibited , or meaningless data is output or the information in the password area is destroyed . this invention can make it harder to gain access to a password area which is used to protect against illegitimate copying and can provide a nonvolatile memory having a stronger copy protection capability .