Abigail Klein Leichman
November 13, 2014

On November 12, Windward and CyberSeal were named the first- and second-place winners, respectively, of the 2014 Homeland Security and Cyber Security Innovation Competition sponsored by the Chief Scientist at Israel’s Ministry of Economy with the the Israel Export Institute and MATIMOP – The Israeli Industry Center for R&D.

Windward, an intelligence and information technology company, was established in 2010 by Israeli Navy veterans Matan Peled and Ami Daniel shortly after commercial satellites started being used to pinpoint the precise location of ships on the open sea.

Combining traditional naval skills with modern data science, Windward offers technology and intelligence tools that enable port and customs authorities and watchdog NGOs to monitor the movement of any ship around the globe and automatically determine whether a particular vessel may be involved in illegal activities.

Windward is now developing a way to map the global movement of goods in order to help Wall Street traders and other financial entities identify and determine trade opportunities in real-time.

Windward won a $3,000 grant for participation in an expo in its field; a one-year membership in the Israel Export Institute; and spot at a leadership program of the California-based Merage Institute, which provides coaching in US marketing strategies to Israeli executives in the life sciences, security, military and IT sectors.

CyberSeal devised a technology for identifying cellular attacks, and a solution for dealing with cyber threats in communications networks. The company was founded in 1998 under the name WebSilicon and was bought in late 2012 by Magal Security Systems. It will receive a one-year membership at the Israel Export Institute and have the opportunity to participate in the Merage leadership program as well.

The awards were announced at the annual Homeland Security Conference in Tel Aviv. Dozens of companies with novel cyber-security initiatives registered to compete. The criteria for choosing the winners included innovation, international-level breakthroughs, ability to implement technological solutions in Israel, commercialization, economic/commercial potential and commitment to the issue of cyber-security.

Previous Homeland Security and Cyber Security Innovation Competition champions are BriefCam and BioCatch.

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