A method is provided in one example embodiment that includes storing a reference measurement of an object in a trusted storage and retrieving the reference measurement from the trusted storage before an operating system is loaded. In a pre-operating system environment, the reference measurement can be compared with a golden measurement and a policy action can be applied if a variance is detected between the reference measurement and the golden measurement. In more particular embodiments, the reference measurement is a measurement of firmware, and yet more particularly, the measurement is a hash of the firmware.