Weris, Inc. has received a $3 million contract from the Transportation Security Administration to provide data analysis services to integrated logistics support in support of the Office of Acquisition Program Management. TSA say Weris won a recompetiton of a contract that was awarded to Logical Essence.

The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology branch and the Transportation Security Administration have awarded $1.5 million to eight individuals for the Passenger Screening Algorithm Challenge, which solicited new automated detection algorithms that can improve the speed and accuracy of detecting small threat objects and other prohibited items during the airport passenger screening process. The competition was focused on improving Advanced Imaging Technology Scanners. The winners include Jeremy Walthers of Maryland ($500,000), Sergei Fotin of New Hampshire ($300,000), David Odaibo and Thomas Anthony of Alabama ($200,000), and Zach Teed of Ohio ($100,000), Oleg Trott of California ($100,000), Halla Yang and Phillip Adkins of Illinois ($100,000), Suchir Balaji of California ($100,000), and Michael Avendi of California ($100,000). DHS plans further tests of the algorithms.

Cyber 20/20, Inc. has received a $200,000 award from the Department of Homeland Security to provide proof-of-concept for the company’s technology that expands the capabilities of an open-source sandbox to better detect and analyze malicious cyber-attacks against the financial services sector. The award was made under the Silicon Valley Innovation Program. Cyber 20/20’s Trained Using Runtime Analysis from Cuckoo Outputs technology uses machine learning to adapt to evolving threats.

The U.S. Army is using an iris recognition-enable access control system at a new chemical lab at its Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center in Maryland to help control access into and throughout the facility, says Brian Hunt of the Defense Department’s Defense Forensics and Biometrics Agency. In addition to the iris readers, which are provided by Princeton Identity, employees at the lab also use their Common Access Cards to gain access to sensitive areas of the lab. Hunt says this access control system works for personnel wearing protective equipment, colored contact lenses, and even polarized sunglasses. Johnson Controls was the integrator for the project.