Machine learning could help us outwit gangs of online criminals

Step onto one of IBM's security watch floors and the first thing you'll notice is the screens. Banks and banks of screens, with as many as 250 analysts hawkishly watching over them waiting for one indicator or another to tip into the red. "The amount of information that's flowing into one of these watch floors is very high," says Caleb Barlow, vice president at IBM Security. These watch floors, dotted around the globe, are the heart of IBM's security operation. From here, analysts monitor the network activity of the companies that IBM looks after the security of, searching for signs that they might be under attack.