谷歌母公司Alphabet旗下X實驗室里，神秘的重大項目負責人是阿斯特羅·特勒，專門負責研究全球最重要的問題。眼下研究重點是最讓21世紀公司頭疼的問題：如何擋住想盡辦法潛入網(wǎng)絡盜取敏感信息的黑客們。

為了幫助企業(yè)贏得先機，特勒的實驗室研發(fā)了一項工具，可以幫助企業(yè)IT部門處理日漸增多的網(wǎng)絡安全問題。該軟件屬于Chronicle項目，主要利用機器學習技術過濾虛假警報信息，技術人員可以集中處理最嚴重的問題。

如果你認為這比起X實驗室旗下其他項目有點小兒科，那你就錯了。X實驗室八年前成立以來，已孵化出多項新創(chuàng)意：自動駕駛汽車、可監(jiān)測血糖水平的隱形眼鏡，以及向覆蓋地區(qū)提供互聯(lián)網(wǎng)信號的巨大熱氣球等。

更迅速也更精準的警報自動過濾系統(tǒng)還只是解決大問題的一小步，真正的目標是搭建特勒稱的“免疫系統(tǒng)”，屆時可以幫企業(yè)在黑客實施攻擊之前就預測并做好相應防護。Chronicle的算法可以過濾企業(yè)的海量數(shù)據(jù)和既有用戶安全工具產(chǎn)生的信息。一段時間后，系統(tǒng)就能準確判斷何時該預警，何時該忽略。

“這套系統(tǒng)就像自動化的夏洛克·福爾摩斯，”特勒表示。“一開始是年輕版的福爾摩斯，之后會逐漸成熟。”

X項目出現(xiàn)商業(yè)化應用的前景后，一般會從實驗階段“升級”為獨立的公司。今年1月宣布的Chronicle就是第三個單飛但保留在Alphabet旗下的項目，不過對于未參與測試服務的外界公司，該軟件仍在保密狀態(tài)。

Alphabet首席財務官露絲·波拉特明確表明，希望X項目更注重盈利，不能只為了出風頭。據(jù)研究機構顧能預計，全球信息安全市場規(guī)模約為930億美元，盈利應不成問題。此外，信息安全與Alphabet收入多元化，與微軟和亞馬遜加強競爭的整體策略相符。

比爾·庫格倫擔任紅杉資本合伙人，也是谷歌前工程經(jīng)理，他表示網(wǎng)絡安全領域的初創(chuàng)企業(yè)眾多，任何一家都很難脫穎而出。他認為，電腦安全領域銷售成功與否取決于多任務處理情況。Chronicle若想獲得競爭優(yōu)勢，可以利用Alphabet充沛的資金降低價格。“市面上很多安全產(chǎn)品都太貴了，”庫格倫表示。用戶總是希望有更實惠的選擇。

特勒相信Chronicle能從競爭激烈的市場中殺出一條路。他表示，到最后網(wǎng)絡安全就是個貓鼠游戲。真正能進步的公司會“扮演好貓的角色，讓電腦系統(tǒng)更安全。”畢竟，誰愿意當老鼠呢？（財富中文網(wǎng)）

本文另一版本將刊載于2018年3月出版的《財富》雜志，標題為《貼近實用的大項目》

譯者：Pessy

審校：夏林

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Astro Teller, leader of Alphabet’s secretive moonshot factory, X, focuses on solving the planet’s biggest problems. And there’s a big one that every 21st-century business grapples with every day: hackers who relentlessly try to infiltrate computer networks and steal sensitive information.

In an effort to help corporations gain the upper hand, Teller’s skunkworks has created a tool intended to solve a common complaint in IT departments—an overwhelming number of cyber-security alerts. The software, part of a project dubbed Chronicle, uses machine learning to filter out false alarms so that technicians can concentrate on only the most important warnings.

If that sounds pedestrian compared with X’s other moonshots, you wouldn’t be wrong. Since its founding eight years ago, X has incubated some far-out ideas: self-driving cars, contact lenses that measure blood sugar, and giant balloons that beam Internet connections to everyone below.

But faster and more accurate automated alert filtering is a small step toward tackling a far larger challenge—to develop what Teller describes as an “immune system” that could help organizations predict and defend against cyberattacks before they infiltrate a network. Chronicle’s algorithms sift through massive volumes of corporate data along with information generated by the customer’s existing security tools. Over time, the system learns what to flag and what to ignore.

“It’s like automating Sherlock Holmes,” Teller says. “We’re going to get a teenage Sherlock Holmes at some point, and then he’ll get more sophisticated over time.”

When X projects show enough commercial promise, they “graduate” from being mere experiments into independent companies. Chronicle, announced in January, is the third to graduate and remain within Alphabet, although its software remains under wraps for companies not involved in tests of the service.

Ruth Porat, Alphabet’s chief financial officer, has made no secret of the fact that she wants X to tackle projects that have a better chance of turning a profit and don’t just grab headlines. Software for what Gartner estimates is a $93 billion global information security market certainly fits the bill, aligning with a broader Alphabet strategy to diversify its revenue and become a stronger business technology rival to Microsoft and Amazon.

Bill Coughran, a partner at Sequoia Capital and a former Google engineering executive, says the sheer number of security startups makes it challenging for any one company to stand out. A company’s success in selling computer security depends on its software handling many tasks well, he argues. One way for Chronicle to get a leg up in the market would be to use Alphabet’s deep pockets to undercut the competition on price. “There are a number of security products that are too expensive,” Coughran says. Customers are always on the hunt for cheaper options.

Teller believes Chronicle can thrive in a crowded field. In the end, cybersecurity remains a cat-and-mouse game, he says. Those that make real progress will “get computers a lot more involved in doing the cat part.” After all, who wants to be a mouse?

A version of this article appears in the March 2018 issue of Fortune with the headline “A Moonshot for Modest Times.”