Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics
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Coined in the fictional cyberpunk literature of writers such as William Gibson, Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics or simply ICE, are security programs which protect computerized data from being accessed by hackers. 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.