ice

	This is the JargonFile ^(V4.00) entry for ice - Next: idempotent, Prev: ICBM address
:ice: /n./ [coined by Usenetter Tom Maddox, popularized by William Gibsons cyberpunk SF novels: a contrived acronym for Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics] Security software (in Gibsons novels, software that responds to intrusion by attempting to immobilize or even literally kill the intruder). Hence, icebreaker: a program designed for cracking security on a system. Neither term is in serious use yet as of early 1996, but many hackers find the metaphor attractive, and each may develop a denotation in the future. In the meantime, the speculative usage could be confused with ICE, an acronym for "in-circuit emulator". In ironic reference to the speculative usage, however, some hackers and computer scientists formed ICE (International Cryptographic Experiment) in 1994. ICE is a consortium to promote uniform international access to strong cryptography. ICE has a home page at http://www.tis.com/crypto/ice.html.
* (text is auto-included via JargonExtension by mutante using jargon with VERSION 4.0.0, 24 JUL 1996* - JargonFile by Eric S. Raymond is in the public domain)*