Methods and apparatus for protecting trace data of a remote debug session for a computing system. In one embodiment, a method includes storing trace data received from one or more trace interfaces to a storage location of a target device, where the trace data is generated from execution at the target device, and where the trace data is protected from an unauthorized access. The method continues with transmitting the trace data to a debug host computer with encryption through a communication channel between the target device and the debug host computer.