IBM gained 1,400 patents in artificial intelligence during 2017. A cyber attack is every CTO's worst phobia, and no company could be more acutely aware of security breaches this week than IBM. Amid the chaos of worse-than-expected Intel vulnerabilities – for which IBM will release firmware updates on Tuesday – the US conglomerate has surpassed its record for the number of patents granted in a year. Despite Spectre and Meltdown woes from Intel, IBM inventors obtained 9,043 patents in 2017, more than any other company in the US for the 25th year in a row. Cybersecurity experts at the firm were granted 1,200 patents last year, including one programme which uses AI bots to bait hackers into email exchanges and websites which expend criminal resources and ultimately frustrate scams.