Working with 8 universities, IBM's Watson takes on cybersecurity

IBM Security announced Watson for Cyber Security on Tuesday, a cloud-based version of the company's cognitive technology that will focus on learning the language of cybersecurity. The project is working to improve security analysts' capabilities by automating the "connections between data, emerging threats and remediation strategies." IBM will collaborate with eight universities starting this fall to expand the collection of security data IBM has trained Watson with. With its Watson cybersecurity effort, IBM is working to automate threat intelligence, allowing a machine to make connections in data that humans are sometimes unable to find. As an added bonus, if the project proves successful, businesses could integrate Watson's cybersecurity into their security platforms, helping to bridge the cybersecurity skills gap. "Even if the industry was able to fill the estimated 1.5 million open cybersecurity jobs by 2020, we'd still have a skills crisis in security," said Marc van Zadelhoff, General Manager, IBM Security.