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About Us

ThreatSTOP is About Taking Action

ThreatSTOP’s founder, Tom Byrnes, created the company in 2009 with a distinct mission and vision…why can’t smaller companies get the same cybersecurity solutions that Fortune 1000 companies can have? Was there a way to deliver security to customers that automated tedious processes and augmented the capabilities of companies with limited IT and Security staffing and resources?

dns-defense

 

A Threat Intelligence Platform That Delivers

ThreatSTOP evolved into what is it today, a cloud-based automated threat intelligence platform that converts the latest threat data into enforcement policies, and automatically updates your firewalls, routers, DNS servers and endpoints to stop attacks before they become breaches.

Policy Management UI

 

Powerful Threat Intelligence DNA

ThreatSTOP leverages the company’s comprehensive and authoritative database of IP addresses, domains and the network infrastructure used in cyberattacks to develop best-in-class threat intelligence. Our world-class security team curates the latest threat information from more than 50 public and proprietary sources including trust groups and law enforcement, and dynamically updates your policy as the threat landscape changes.

CheckIOC Overview UI

 

What we do

ThreatSTOP was started in 2009 with a mission: Give organizations of any size the same cybersecurity protection that Fortune 1000 companies have.

Few companies have the resources to curate threat intelligence feeds into machine readable enforcement policies. Fewer still have the resources to update their network devices with those policies.

ThreatSTOP addresses protection gaps for both inbound and outbound network traffic with cloud-based automated threat intelligence and Protective DNS, converting the latest threat data into enforcement policies, updating devices to stop attacks before they become breaches.

The team has more than 120 years’ combined experience in security research.


ThreatSTOP How It Works

 

Management

ThreatSTOP has assembled a core management team of seasoned veterans from the security, Internet and data communications industries.

Photo of Tomás Byrnes

Tomás Byrnes

Founder & CEO
Photo of Paul Mockapetris

Paul Mockapetris

Chief Scientist
Photo of Nicko Dehaine

Nicko Dehaine

Vice President, Engineering
Photo of Steve Wallace

Steve Wallace

Vice President, Customer Experience
Photo of Ofir Ashman

Ofir Ashman

Sr. Director of Security Research & Intelligence
Photo of Francis Turner

Francis Turner

Global SE and Japan Country Manager
Photo of Tomás Byrnes

Tomás Byrnes

Founder & CEO

Tom Byrnes is a long-standing member of the global cybersecurity community, serving in the U.S. Army for 13 years and ultimately joining the seminal tactical networking group.  In the private sector Toms work started with designing large-scale global networks, and providing technical advice and leadership for a number of successful startups that all resulted in successful acquisitions. Tom holds four patents in network security using DNS, and is credited as the inventor on two additional patent applications. An active member of the IEEE, ISSA and Infragard, Byrnes speaks regularly at conferences on the topic of security.

Ever the adventurer, Tom dives, surfs and hikes around ThreatSTOP's HQ in beautiful North County San Diego, and takes advantage of down time on business travel to learn about the local culture and make friends, which he is blessed with all over the world. 

Photo of Paul Mockapetris

Paul Mockapetris

Chief Scientist

Mockapetris is the inventor of the Domain Name System (DNS). His mission is to help guide DNS and IP addressing to the next stage. His earliest work at UC Irvine on distributed systems and LAN technology preceded the commercial Ethernet and Token Ring designs. At ISI, after working on the design and initial implementation of the SMTP protocol for email as part of the birth of the Internet in 1983, he took on the challenge of designing DNS, and then operated the original “root servers” for all Internet names.

When not inventing new ways for the internet to communicate, Paul enjoys tennis and wine, sometimes both together.

Photo of Nicko Dehaine

Nicko Dehaine

Vice President, Engineering

Nicko has over 18 years of diverse experience in engineering management, software development, internet application development, and computer networking. He has particular expertise in Unix and TCP/IP, web applications, cloud computing, and platform/software as a service (PaaS/SaaS). Before joining ThreatStop, Nicko was Vice-President of Engineering at Phone.com and Director of Software Development at Bridgepoint Education, and St. Bernard Software/Edgewave. He holds a M.S. in Computer Science from EPITA (Paris, France).

When not coding or hiking with his family, Nicko is a heavy metal roadie, attending over 90 Iron Maiden shows (and singing backup vocals on a few).

Photo of Steve Wallace

Steve Wallace

Vice President, Customer Experience

Steve Wallace is an entrepreneurial technologist with 30 years of hands-on experience in data security, network design, technical operations, and cloud computing. Prior to joining ThreatSTOP, Wallace was the CTO of AIS Data Centers (now Infinit). He has held senior technology leadership roles including CTO at ComplexDrive Data Centers, President and CTO at cari.net, and founder and VP of Engineering at American Digital Network. Wallace served in the U.S. Navy and holds a BSc in Computer Engineering.

Photo of Ofir Ashman

Ofir Ashman

Sr. Director of Security Research & Intelligence

Ofir has been with ThreatSTOP for nearly 7 years, serving in both Security Research and Marketing roles for the company. Prior to joining ThreatSTOP, Ofir served as a cyber and intelligence analyst, course commander and trainer in the elite Unit 8200 of the Israel Defense Forces. In her role as Head of Security Research and Intelligence, Ofir manages a team of analysts and researchers performing threat intelligence feed creation and curation, malware and threat infrastructure research, new protection technologies innovation, and content creation. She also leads cross-departmental product-oriented projects and manages the company's Israeli branch.

Ofir holds a B.A. in Psychology and Business management and an M.A. in Psychology.

Photo of Francis Turner

Francis Turner

Global SE and Japan Country Manager

Francis Turner is currently ThreatSTOP's senior representative in the Far East. He has worked for ThreatSTOP for over a decade and prior to this position he was ThreatSTOP's VP Product Management and then VP Security Research. In these past roles he developed ThreatSTOP's current DNS Defense product and many of the techniques used behind the scenes for all products. One of these methods has in fact received a US Patent. As part of his Security Research responsibilities he has been instrumental in identifying early BEC schemes such as the "Vistaprint" related scams as well as participating in industry efforts to characterize and then take down various botnets such as Kelihos and Fluxxy.

Board of Directors

Tom Byrnes is a long-standing member of the global cybersecurity community, serving in the U.S. Army for 13 years and ultimately joining the seminal tactical networking group.  In the private sector Toms work started with designing large-scale global networks, and providing technical advice and leadership for a number of successful startups that all resulted in successful acquisitions. Tom holds two patents in network security using DNS, and is credited as the inventor on two additional patent applications. An active member of the IEEE, ISSA and Infragard, Byrnes speaks regularly at conferences on the topic of security.

Ever the adventurer, Tom is an off-road racing enthusiast and was part of the JCR/Honda team that won seven Baja 1000 races in a row from 2007 to 2014. When not on the road securing the world or seeking the unknown, Byrnes lives in North San Diego County with his wife, two sons, and their rescue dog.

Photo of Tom Bennett

Tom Bennett

Tom Bennett is a 26 year veteran startup entrepreneur with a track record of taking disruptive, venture-backed startups from concept to market leadership. Tom has previously held high Department of Defense security clearance and has worked with multiple agencies on national cybersecurity defense issues. Tom has also worked for multiple incubator venture groups and is a mentor to several startup CEOs. He also serves on the board of directors for ICS cybersecurity startup Dragos, and was previously on the board of directors for Cylance and Cybersponse, also serving as Executive Chairman for Veracity Industrial Networks. He holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Tom is also Co-Founder of outdoor tools company DMOS Collective, works ski patrol at Park City Mountain, and has completed 2.75 Molokai2Oahu paddleboard races (ask him about sea turtle collisions).

Photo of Paul Mockapetris

Paul Mockapetris

Mockapetris is the inventor of the Domain Name System (DNS). His mission is to help guide DNS and IP addressing to the next stage. His earliest work at UC Irvine on distributed systems and LAN technology preceded the commercial Ethernet and Token Ring designs. At ISI, after working on the design and initial implementation of the SMTP protocol for email as part of the birth of the Internet in 1983, he took on the challenge of designing DNS, and then operated the original “root servers” for all Internet names.

When not inventing new ways for the internet to communicate, Paul enjoys tennis and wine, sometimes both together.

Advisors

The ThreatSTOP executive team has more than 120 years’ combined experience in security and network product development and research. ThreatSTOP has assembled a core management team of seasoned veterans from the security, Internet and data communications industries.

Photo of Winn Schwartau

Winn Schwartau

Winn Schwartau is one of the world's top experts and authors on security, privacy, infowar and cyber-terrorism.

Photo of Johannes Ullrich

Johannes Ullrich

As Chief Research Officer for the SANS Institute, Johannes is currently responsible for the SANS Internet Storm Center (ISC) and the GIAC Gold program.

Organizer Of 1's & 0's at a well funded stealth startup.

Senior executive with over 30 years of professional leadership experience in national, homeland, and cyber security.

Founding principal and General Partner in Accelerate-IT Ventures (AITV), and Chairman of Accelerate-IT Advisors (AITA).

Chad Loeven is an experienced cybersecurity exec and entrepreneur who has built out sales, marketing, alliances and channels for multiple security companies (like Silicium (RSA), Sunbelt (GFI) and TransientX (Deloitte))  through to successful exits.