Alphabet's new 'moonshot' spinoff Chronicle uses machine learning for threat detection - SiliconANGLE

Google parent Alphabet Inc. has spun off its latest "moonshot" company from its X Labs in the form of Chronicle Inc., a company that uses machine learning to assist in detecting cybersecurity intrusions. Unheard of until today -- unlike previous Alphabet X alumni such as former Google Car project Waymo Inc. -- Chronicle aims to simplify the lives of cybersecurity and information technology professionals. It's offering two services: a security intelligence and analytics platform for enterprises and VirusTotal, a malware and virus scanner Google acquired in 2012. The company claims to use machine learning to detect intrusions more quickly than existing solutions, cutting the time it takes to stop a breach. "The information that security teams need to identify and investigate attacks is right there in an organization's existing security tools and IT systems, but it's hidden in enormous volumes of data and therefore can't easily be seen, understood, or used," X "Captain of Moonshots" Astro Teller wrote in a Medium post. "Providing better capabilities for finding the patterns in that data might not sound like much, but shrinking the time between when an attack starts and when it's discovered (from a few months to a few hours or days) could reduce a lot of damage."