Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics

Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics (ICE) is a term used in cyberpunk literature to refer to security programs which protect computerized data from being accessed by hackers.

Origin of term

The term was popularized by William Gibson in his short story "Burning Chrome", which also introduced the term "cyberspace", and his subsequent novel "Neuromancer". According to the New Hacker's Dictionary, as well as Gibson's own acknowledgements, the term ICE was originally coined by Tom Maddox.

Description of ICE

When viewed in a cyberspace virtual reality environment, these constructs are often represented by actual walls of ice, stone, or metal. Black ICE refers to ICE that are capable of killing the intruder if deemed necessary or appropriate; some forms of black ICE may be artificially-intelligent. For this reason hackers tend to use ICE as a backronym for such things as "Insidious Cortical Electrocution".

Real-world usage

Though real-life firewalls and similar programs fall under this classification, the term has little real world significance and remains primarily a science fiction concept. This can be attributed to the fact that using the term "Electronics" to describe software products (such as firewalls) is somewhat of a misnomer.

Nevertheless, the term ICE has recently been adopted by real-world software manufacturers in such products as Black Ice Defender as well as the ICE cipher.

Usage in fiction

Anime

* "Cyber City Oedo 808"

Card games

* "Netrunner", where the corporate player uses ice and the runner player uses icebreakers

Literature

* "Neuromancer", original popularizer of the term

Hyperion, Black ICE is used to defend the Techno-core.

Roleplaying games

* "Cyberpunk 2020"
* "Shadowrun"

Video games

* "Deus Ex", where the player's hacking program is referred to as an "ICE Breaker"
* "System Shock", where ICE is represented in cyberspace as both autonomous security programs and ICE protection attached to data or software objects appearing as blue crystal formations.
* "System Shock 2", where an item that auto-hacks electronics is known as an "ICE Pick"

References

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