On July 15 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced an 11.8 million-dollar settlement with Interactive Brokers LLC after the firm processed thousands of transactions for customers in sanctioned jurisdictions and with blocked persons.   The penalty could have been far higher—OFAC noted a potential maximum of more than 5 billion dollars had the company not self-disclosed.

The message is crystal clear: a single oversight in sanctions screening can result in substantial fines, remediation costs, and a loss of client trust. Below, we delve into how ThreatSTOP’s purpose-built sanctions compliance protections assist organizations in avoiding a similar fate.

Why Non-Compliance Is So Costly

  1. Regulatory Penalties

    OFAC can impose penalties up to the statutory maximum per violation, often in the tens of thousands of dollars each.

  2. Operational Disruption

    A settlement rarely ends with a payment. Long-term remediation, audits, and reporting divert staff and resources.

  3. Reputational Damage

    Public enforcement releases alert customers and investors that compliance controls failed.

  4. Lost Opportunity

    Financial institutions may face suspended licenses or restricted market access until deficiencies are corrected.

ThreatSTOP’s Proactive Sanctions Coverage

ThreatSTOP’s Security, Intelligence, and Research team meticulously curates dedicated OFAC and ITAR Sanctions compliance Targets. These Targets encompass up-to-the-minute IP addresses, domain names, and networks associated with sanctioned entities across the globe.  These Targets are refreshed continuously and delivered automatically across our product family:

 

ThreatSTOP Product

How It Applies Sanctions Protections

DNS Defense Cloud

Cloud-hosted recursive DNS that blocks lookups for sanctioned infrastructure before a session begins. No on-prem maintenance required.

DNS Defense

Installs on customer-operated DNS servers, enforcing the same real-time sanctions block list inside the network perimeter.

IP Defense

Pushes the sanctions list to routers, firewalls, AWS WAF, IPS, and other IP-based controls, stopping traffic even when DNS is bypassed.

 

Benefits at a Glance

  • Immediate Coverage – New sanctions updates propagate in minutes, eliminating manual list management.

  • Granular Control – Select or combine sanctions Targets (e.g., Iran, Cuba, Russia) to meet policy requirements.

  • Audit-Ready Logs – Each blocked request is logged with time stamp and rule hit, simplifying proof of compliance.

  • Enterprise Scale – Protects everything from branch-office DNS to multi-cloud firewalls with the same data set.

Had Interactive Brokers implemented ThreatSTOP’s sanctions targets at their DNS resolvers and network edges, requests originating from sanctioned entities could have been blocked in real-time, thereby preventing the trades that triggered OFAC scrutiny and potentially saving millions in penalties.

MITRE ATT&CK Alignment

 

MITRE ATT&CK Tactic

Key Techniques Disrupted

ThreatSTOP Control

Reconnaissance

Gather Victim Network Information (T1590)

Blocks DNS queries to sanctioned infrastructure, thwarting discovery.

Resource Development

Acquire Infrastructure (T1583)

Prevents registration checks or connectivity tests to hostile C2 hosts.

Command and Control

Application Layer Protocol (T1071.004)

Stops DNS and direct IP communication with embargoed servers.

Exfiltration

Exfiltration Over Web Services (T1567.002)

Denies outbound traffic to sanctioned cloud or hosting providers.

Impact

Denial of Service (T1499)

Preemptively blocks known DDoS botnet nodes in sanctioned regions.

 

 

For those interested in joining the ThreatSTOP family, or to learn more about our proactive protections for all environments, we invite you to visit our product page. Check out our white paper on OFAC/ITAR Compliance! Discover how our solutions can make a significant difference in your digital security landscape. We have pricing for all sizes of customers! Get started with a Demo today!

Check out our AWS WAF Coverage for OFAC / ITAR as well!

 

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