In linux this it is easy to get at memory if you are the root user, on my machine at least.

As root:

cp /dev/mem /tmp/mem
strings /tmp/mem | grep keyword
[download]

This will print all the strings in memory that include the word 'keyword'. It would be easy to create a regular expression to look for credit card numbers or other sensitive data this way.

As root, you can also change memory with similar techniques. For example, root can change a running copy of any program to make it less secure.

If someone has a hack to work with memory directly as a regular user, this is probably a hack of sufficient strength to gain root priviledges.

It should work perfectly the first time! - toma