Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics

Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics (ICE) is a term used in the cyberpunk subgenre 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 in his subsequent novel Neuromancer. According to the Jargon File, 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.

Real-world usage

Though real-life firewalls, anti-virus software 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 something of a misnomer. On the other hand, there is a strong connection between real-world cybercrime and cyberpunk literature. "The Gibsonian concept of cyberspace [...] fed back into both computer and information systems design and theory," wrote Roger Burrows.

The term ICE has occasionally been used for real-world software:

BlackICE, an intrusion detection system built by a California company named Network ICE in 1999, acquired by IBM Internet Security Systems, then discontinued in 2007.