Every security team appreciates the concept of an allow-list: approve a set of trusted domains or IP addresses and block everything else. In theory, this “only let the good in” approach appears foolproof. However, in practice, it creates costly blind spots that attackers exploit daily. Static allow-lists are unable to keep pace with today’s rapidly evolving threat landscape, the increasing adoption of dynamic SaaS, and the surge in zero-day campaigns.

Why Relying on Allow-Lists Leaves Gaps

 

Hidden Cost

Real-World Impact

Example Scenario

Zero-Day Blindness

Newly registered malicious domains bypass fixed allow-lists until manual review catches up

A phishing kit spins up look-alike domains hourly, tricking users before updates arrive

Cloud and SaaS Sprawl

Business units add new services faster than security can approve them

A developer turns on an unfamiliar storage service, creating an unsanctioned data path

Operational Overhead

Every change request interrupts productivity and burdens IT

Routine vendor IP shifts trigger help-desk tickets and emergency rule edits.  We'll all had to deal with this at some point in our lives

Supply-Chain Exposure

Third-party CDNs or sub-domains introduce unexpected risk

A trusted marketing platform is compromised, serving malware from an allow-listed domain

Shadow IT Loopholes

Users tunnel traffic through popular platforms to bypass controls

A remote worker uses a consumer chat app to exfiltrate data via file-sharing features

 

Static allow-lists freeze your security posture at yesterday’s state. Attackers evolve hourly and your business evolves just as quickly, leaving expensive gaps in what should be a solid wall.

ThreatSTOP’s Dynamic Policy Engine: Real-Time Protection Without the Gaps

ThreatSTOP is like having a super-smart security guard that’s always on the lookout! Instead of relying on outdated rules, it uses dynamic policies that can change and improve as needed. Our Security, Intelligence, and Research team gathers tons of information from all over the world and even from our own sources.  All this info is automatically fed into a single policy engine, which you can customize to fit your specific needs and how much risk you’re comfortable with.

Layered Policy Construction: Allow Lists Done Right

Our policies are built in layers on the back end. Individual targets can be grouped into bundles for easy management, and hundreds of vetted allow lists are applied at the policy-construction stage before anything ships to a customer. Known-good destinations are stripped out through scoring, feedback loops, and false-positive reports, ensuring the focus stays on genuine threats.

Customers then add a final layer called a User-Defined List (UDL). Think of UDL as your personal override: add items to an allow list unique to your environment or block something we permit by default. All of this logic is assembled in the cloud, built into a policy, and delivered to your devices in minutes, updating itself constantly.

Protective DNS Wherever You Resolve

  • DNS Defense Cloud: Point forwarders to ThreatSTOP’s global anycast resolvers for immediate protection in the cloud.

  • DNS Defense: Keep resolution on your own DNS servers while enriching them with the same intelligence, perfect for on-prem or hybrid networks.

Together they form our Protective DNS portfolio, blocking malicious lookups before any connection is made.

Extend Control to Any IP Device

With IP Defense, you distribute the same dynamic policies to routers, firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, and AWS WAF. Threats that try to sidestep DNS by hitting raw IP addresses are stopped all the same.

Precision Policies Down to the App Level

Security is never one-size-fits-all. ThreatSTOP lets administrators choose from more than 770 discrete threat categories, geo-filters, and application controls — including our App Control bundle that can block or allow specific collaboration suites, social networks, or cloud storage platforms. Our nearest competitor offers just 126 toggles. More options mean tighter alignment with business requirements and fewer false positives.

Always Current, Zero Maintenance

Policies are updated every few minutes without any manual intervention. This allows your team to focus on strategy instead of chasing change requests, while users enjoy safe and uninterrupted access to the resources they need.

Why Organizations Choose ThreatSTOP Over Static Allow-Lists

  • Real-time protection: Instant updates from our SIR team close zero-day gaps before attackers strike.

  • Tailored granularity: Tailored granularity allows for fine-grain controls over regions, industries, and individual apps, ensuring that security aligns with business priorities.

  • Broad coverage: Protective DNS and IP Defense shield every connection path, whether DNS-based or direct IP.

  • Rapid deployment: Be fully protected in under five minutes with DNS Defense Cloud, or integrate seamlessly with existing infrastructure.

  • Proven scale: Billions of queries processed daily with micro-second latency and a 100 percent resolver uptime SLA.

Get Started Today

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. 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!

MITRE ATT&CK Mapping

 

ATT&CK Tactic

Technique ID

ThreatSTOP Mitigation

Initial Access

T1566.002 Spearphishing Link

Protective DNS blocks malicious domains before users connect

Command and Control

T1071.004 Application Layer Protocol: DNS

Dynamic policies cut off DNS-based C2 channels

Command and Control

T1090.003 Multi-Hop Proxy: Domain Fronting

Real-time intelligence detects and stops fronting domains

Defense Evasion

T1568 Dynamic Resolution

Blocks domain-generation algorithms through continuous updates

Exfiltration

T1048.003 Exfiltration Over Unencrypted Non-C2 Protocol

DNS tunneling and direct IP channels are blocked by IP Defense

Impact

T1499.004 Network Denial of Service: Reflection/Amplification

DDoS command vectors are neutralized at the resolver level

Collection

T1114.001 Email Collection via Client

Malicious tracking domains in email content are prevented from loading

 

Connect with Customers, Disconnect from Risks