Your security posture should be able to move as fast as the threats do, without making your network slower, riskier, or harder to manage in the process. That’s not a small promise. BDS 6.1 goes after all three of these problems directly, with three headline features: One-Click High-Security Mode, External Threat Intelligence Integration (EDL), and Out-of-Band Blocking. Let’s walk through what each one actually does, why it exists, and what it means for the people running the network day to day.
Panic Button, But It Actually Works: One-Click High-Security Mode
During major events, public holidays, geopolitical incidents, security drills, or periods of elevated cyber risk, organizations often enter what is commonly known as a critical defense period. The challenge is that manually hardening a security environment can take time. Administrators may need to adjust multiple policies, coordinate changes across systems, and carefully confirm that the new settings will not interrupt legitimate business traffic.
BDS 6.1 introduces a new High-Security Mode that allows administrators to rapidly strengthen their security posture with a single action. Instead of manually modifying individual policies, security teams can activate globally prioritized protection templates that are specifically designed for high-risk periods. It minimizes the vulnerability window during major cyber events.
Never Miss a Memo Again: External Threat Intelligence Integration (EDL)
Common threat intelligence indicators include malicious IP addresses, URLs, domains, file hashes, and indicators of compromise, often referred to as IOCs. However, simply having threat intelligence is not enough. The intelligence must be imported, updated, and converted into enforceable security policies before it can protect the network. If that process depends heavily on manual work, newly discovered indicators may become outdated before they are actually used.
BDS 6.1 introduces support for External Dynamic Lists, or EDLs, allowing the platform to automatically retrieve threat intelligence from external sources.An EDL is a remotely maintained list containing indicators such as malicious IP addresses, URLs, or file hashes. Because the list is maintained outside the security platform, it can be updated continuously by a threat intelligence provider or an internal security team.BDS 6.1 can automatically pull these lists from HTTP or FTP servers, reducing the need for administrators to manually download and import intelligence files. It helps respond faster to newly discovered attack infrastructure.
Watch Quietly, Strike Instantly: Out-of-Band Blocking
Security products are commonly deployed either inline or out of band. An inline security system sits directly in the network traffic path. All relevant traffic passes through it, allowing the system to inspect and block connections immediately. This approach provides strong control, but it can also introduce deployment concerns. Any inline device must be carefully planned for performance, availability, latency, and failover because it becomes part of the live traffic path.
The new Out-of-Band Blocking capability allows BDS 6.1 to monitor network traffic passively while still taking action against malicious TCP sessions.Because the platform remains outside the direct forwarding path, normal business traffic does not need to pass through BDS. This helps maintain network performance and reduces concerns about introducing a new inline point of failure.At the same time, the system can actively respond when it detects a malicious connection.This provides a balance between the low operational impact of out-of-band monitoring and the real-time response capability usually associated with inline security controls.
Together, these capabilities help reduce the time between identifying a risk and taking action. For more details, For more details, reach out to Hillstone Networks representative.
