A device for protecting a data word against data corruption includes first and second determiners. The first determiner is configured to determine an error correction code cvA associated with a data word a so that cvA=aAT, with A being a generator matrix of a linear systematic base correction code, the columns of which enable performance of an x-bit error correction on replica of the data word a and the associated error correction code cvA. The second determiner is configured to determine an extended error correction code cvE so that (cvA|cvE)=aFT, with F being an extended generator matrix F = ( A E ) of an extended linear systematic correction code, the columns of which enable, using the extension error correction code cvE, performance of an y-bit error correction, with y>x, on a replica of the data word a and the associated error correction code cvA.