INTRUSION COUNTERMEASURESICE or IC

INTRUSION COUNTERMEASURES Intrusion countermeasures, or IC (pronounced “ice”), is a type of program that runs in hosts. The purpose of an IC program is to defend its host from attack, and it tends to be cold-heartedly ruthless about it.
Each IC program has a persona with its own Condition Monitor and Initiative Score. It should be treated as if it is in hot-sim, so it gets a total of 3 actions. IC uses the Matrix attributes of its host. The IC in a host and the host itself share marks, so if one IC program is slapped with a mark, they all get one, as does the host itself. Similarly, the IC and host instantly share spotting information, so if the host spots you, so does all its IC. Which usually turns out not well for you. Individual IC programs alone can be a threat, but multiple IC programs working together can be deadly. Once the host starts to launch IC, it’s time to finish up and buzz out of there.