Air Force Awards Cyber Resiliency Contract to Shift5

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Shift5, a cutting-edge cybersecurity company that secures operational technology for a range of Department of Defense and commercial platforms, announces a contract award with the Air Force Cyber Resiliency of Weapon Systems (CROWS) office. This contract is a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase III award, an extension of Shift5's current SBIR Phase II project through AFWERX. SBIR Phase III awards serve to commercialize the innovation developed through the earlier phases and rapidly field that capability to the warfighter.  

Following their SBIR Phase I award in December 2019, Shift5 immediately satisfied the competition requirements, enabling any federal agency to issue sole-source Phase III awards to acquire Shift5's products without competition. This Phase III award is a result of Air Force interest in the disruptive cybersecurity technology provided by Shift5. This project will take Shift5 cybersecurity technology and transform it to a micro-form factor prototype. This miniaturization will enable a wider range of use cases, to include those that are extremely size, weight, and power-sensitive.

Mitch Plonski, Shift5 Head of Operations, says "We are extremely honored to start this Phase III project and our partnership with the Air Force will continue to deliver innovation to the mission of securing critical military platforms against cyberattack along with commercializing the micro-form factor technology. This project, and our mission focus in supporting the DoD, is answering the call to better secure our most critical weapon systems that stems from the 2016 NDAA Section 1647 and is discussed in a GAO report in 2018."

The work begins in September 2020 and will primarily occur at Shift5 headquarters in Rosslyn, Virginia.

About Shift5

Shift5 is a cybersecurity company based in Arlington, VA. Shift5 products defend operational technology platforms such as planes, trains, and tanks from cyberattacks. Shift5 protects vulnerable embedded serial data buses within operational technology platforms through proprietary defensive hardware and software. To learn more, visit www.shift5.io.

About Air Force CROWS

As a result of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2016, the Air Force, through Air Force Materiel Command's Life Cycle Management Center, stood up the Cyber Resiliency Office for Weapons Systems, or CROWS office. The NDAA instructed the military to analyze the cyber vulnerabilities of major weapons systems and report findings back to Congress. In 2018, the program was fully funded by Congress to begin its mission.

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SOURCE Shift5, Inc.