In the Computer
Underground (CU), “ice” is a fictional form of anti-cracker countermeasure,
often depicted as a wall of ice. The term first appeared in William GibsonÂ’s
book Neuromancer, in which he
described various means of protecting systems from intrusion. In other words,
IC was a software program on the Matrix
to stop illegal access to company or government computer systems and valuable
information stores. A number of intrusion countermeasure electronics types were
available, including lethal Black IC—which could kill the intruder—and Probe IC, which hunted for system
trespassers and then shot back.
Today, real world Intrusion Detection products, such as
BlackICE, are modeled after the theoretical concepts. Nobody is killed and the
shooting back—although technically illegal—targets the attacker’s computer
system.
See Also:
Matrix; Probe.
Graham, R. Hacking Lexicon. [Online, 2001.] Robert Graham Website.
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/resource_files/documentation/hacking-dict.html;
Clutton, R. Welcome to the Simple Guide of Cyberpunk. [Online, June 24, 2001.]
http://tip.net.au/
~rclutton/cdict.html.
