ThreatSTOP, the company that makes threat intelligence actionable in real time, has revealed that Paul Mockapetris, inventor of the Internet Domain Name System (DNS), has joined the company as its Chief Scientist. Mockapetris is a world-renowned expert and visionary in the international computer science community, with more than 30 years’ experience in consistently developing landmark Internet technologies. In this newly created role, Mockapetris will provide guidance to the ongoing product innovation process, and lead research into DNS-based security. The DNS was introduced during the transition from the ARPAnet to the IP/TCP based Internet, and was the largest single architectural innovation of that transition. As a critical infrastructure, DNS has been subjected to many attacks and misuse, but in today’s hardened form, it is seen as an essential tool for implementing security.
ThreatSTOP delivers a highly scalable defense against advanced attacks by leveraging the power of DNS to protect against any malware for every device across a network. More than 500 companies trust ThreatSTOP to protect their networks today. The ThreatSTOP service enables firewalls and/or DNS servers to deflect inbound attacks, and prevents infected hosts from communicating with threat actors to corrupt or extract data. The service is cloud-based, updates automatically and integrates with leading firewalls and DNS servers.
“Effective security requires real-time threat intelligence that is distributed to all of an enterprise’s enforcement devices whether they are routers, firewalls, application delivery controllers, or servers. DNS is an ideal vehicle,” said Mockapetris. “ThreatSTOP’s threat intelligence is developed from industry-leading sources, as well as feedback from the enterprise enforcement devices. Working with the team at ThreatSTOP, we field powerful, scalable security tools that leverage the ubiquity of DNS to protect organizations of all sizes.”
Prior to joining ThreatSTOP, Mockapetris has held leadership roles at high-profile technology companies including @Home, Software.com, and Fiberlane (split into Cerent and Siara). He currently serves as a board member for Nominum and Farsight Security, two other leaders in DNS-based security. Mockapetris also served as chairman of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), program manager at ARPA, and chair of ICANN's Strategy Panel on Identifier Technology Innovation.
“Paul is a well-recognized Internet pioneer whose initial DNS has endured and flourished over the past three decades, which is a rare and marvelous feat of innovation,” said Tom Byrnes, CEO of ThreatSTOP. “We are honored to work alongside Paul to use DNS to successfully address one of the most challenging Internet issues facing companies today—availability of security that is not only effective, but easy to deploy and manage.”
Throughout his career, Mockapetris has contributed to the computing research community and the evolution of the Internet. His earliest work at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) on distributed systems and local area network 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. Subsequent to creating DNS at USC’s ISI, Mockapetris later served as the Director of ISI’s High Performance Computing and Communications Division.
Mockapetris earned his bachelor's degrees in physics and electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his doctorate in Information and Computer Science from UCI. Mockapetris is a frequent speaker and the recipient of numerous awards including induction into the inaugural Internet Society’s Internet Hall of Fame in 2012. He was also an initial investor in ThreatSTOP, and participated in its most recent Series B round of funding.
