Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics
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Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics or simply ICE is a term used in cyberpunk literature to refer to security programs which protect computerized data from being accessed by hackers.
The term was popularized by William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer and, according to the New Hacker's Dictionary, originally coined by Tom Maddox.
When viewed in cyberspace virtual reality environment, these constructs are often represented by actual walls of ice, stone, or metal. So-called "black ICE" is capable of killing the intruder and manifest as gruesome killers.
Appropriately enough, the intruding hacker can make use of "icebreakers" in order to defeat these protective mechanisms. Hackers tend to use ICE as a backronym for such things as "Insidious Cortical Electrocution".
Though real-life firewalls and similar programs fall under this classification, the term has failed to catch on in the real world. This is attributed to the fact that using the term "Electronics" to describe software products (such as firewalls) is a misnomer. However, it is still used in the science fiction, such as in the computer game Deus Ex, where the main character utilizes a cracking tool called ICE Breaker.
The term ICE has been adopted by real-world software manufacturers in such products as Black Ice.
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