The Department of Homeland Security‘s science and technology directorate has awarded a $200,000 contract to Whitescope to provide a wireless communications gateway that will work to secure Internet of Things devices.
DHS said Monday Whitescope’s GatewayX platform will work to perform passive and active detection of connected IoT devices and centralize the access to the devices.
The award was given under the Silicon Valley Innovation Program‘s “other” transaction solicitation, which looks to encourage non-traditional government contractors to offer products and services that could help meet DHS’ mission requirements, the department added.
“The unprecedented number of connected devices is changing the way we live, but unfortunately we cannot assume all IoT devices are inherently secure,” noted Reginald Brothers, DHS undersecretary for science and technology.
Melissa Ho, managing director of S&T’s Silicon Valley office, said the startup community will help DHS acquire new systems that work to address challenges in IoT.