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. "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.
  • The ICE cipher, an encryption algorithm, may be inspired by Gibson's ICE, but it is explained as meaning "Information Concealment Engine".
  • The Java bytecode verifier in the Apache ByteCode Engineering Library (BCEL) is called JustIce (see the 'docs' folder for documentation).

On April 28, 2009, the Information and Communications Enhancement Act, or ICE Act for short, was introduced to the United States Senate by Senator Tom Carper to make changes to the handling of information security by the federal government, including the establishment of the National Office for Cyberspace.

Usage in fiction

The term ICE is widely used in cyberpunk fiction.

Anime

  • Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
  • Cyber City Oedo 808
  • Ghost in the Shell, where ICE is referred to directly by name or else as an 'Attack Barrier'.

Cartoons

  • Phantom 2040, though in it "ICE" stands for "Integrated Cyber Environment", referring to cyberspace, rather than Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics

Card games

  • Netrunner, based on Cyberpunk 2020 setting, where the corporate player uses ICE and the runner player uses icebreakers; while corps in Netrunner understand ICE to be an acronym for "Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics", the runner viewpoint is that the acronym should be for "Insidious Cortical Electrocution"
  • Android: Netrunner, an adaptation of the original Netrunner for the Android setting
  • Hacker and Hacker II - The Dark Side, where the players attempt to gain illicit access systems represented by playing cards arranged in a network while avoiding getting zapped by ICE and Black ICE.

Literature

  • Neuromancer, original popularizer of the term
  • 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"
  • The Ascent, where items are protected by various levels of ICE that the player must overcome to access.
  • Invisible, Inc., wherein "ICE" is used intermittently with "firewalls" to reference mainframe defenses which the player-controlled AI program Incognita breaks through to take control of enemy electronics.
  • Hackers, an in-game node called Black ICE helps recapture a node if it is hacked.

Web comics

  • Schlock Mercenary, icewalls are a standard security measure.

References