The new IQ test: Technologists assess the potential of artificial intelligence

Rather than focus on attack signatures, these AI solutions look for anomalous network behavior, flagging when a machine goes rogue or if user activity or traffic patterns appear unusual. "A really simple example is someone with high privilege who attempts to get onto a system at a time of day or night that they never normally log in and potentially from a geolocation or a machine that they don't log in from," said Kelley. Another example would be a "really rapid transfer of a lot of data," especially if that data consists of the "corporate crown jewels." Such red-flags allow admins to quickly catch high-priority malware infections and network compromises before they can cause irreparable damage. IBM calls this kind of machine learning "cognitive with a little'c'" – which the company was already practicing prior to Watson.