1. A computer implemented method of constructing a cognitive fingerprint, comprising: identifying a set of time frames, each time frame corresponding to a respective data source, within which data is extracted from the data source by a computer system; providing a plurality of pattern recognizers each having an assigned heuristic; processing, by the computer system, a combined stream of extracted data through the plurality of pattern recognizers to generate an initial set of elements, each element corresponding to the output of the heuristic assigned to each pattern recognizer; extracting identified relationships amongst the initial set of elements; modifying the initial set of elements to include the identified relationships to create an intermediate set of elements; comparing, by the computer system, the intermediate set of elements against assigned weight values to emphasize or deemphasize each element in the intermediate set of elements to create a final set of elements, wherein the final set of elements forms a cognitive fingerprint representing a signature of the data extracted from the time frame; comparing, by the computer system, the cognitive fingerprint to a previously recorded cognitive fingerprint by taking a sum of squared differences between each element in the final set of elements and each element of the previously recorded cognitive fingerprint to determine a scalar value; comparing, by the computer system, the scalar value to a threshold of a target goal; and one or more of shutting down the computer system or quarantining at least a portion of the extracted data in response to the scalar value being within the threshold of the target goal.