How Black Hat Proved DNSFilter is on the Right Expansion Path

By Ken Carnesi, CEO & Co-Founder, DNSFilter

I've been going to Black Hat for years, and I can tell you plainly: This year was different.

Shadow AI and AI governance are top of mind now, an evolution from what we were hearing at RSA earlier this year. In an AI era, taking a DNS First approach to cybersecurity isn't optional, and we're built to solve exactly that problem.

We have a team focused entirely on DNS First security, backed by real solutions, and the momentum around DNSFilter this year was obvious: We were flooded with meeting requests and demand for a sneak peek at our new platform.

A First Look at LUMINATE by DNSFilter™

The biggest news of the week was ours: LUMINATE by DNSFilter™, upcoming platform launch that will include controls for Shadow AI and AI Governance. It drove more interest than anything else on the floor, and it's not close.

Security leaders already know their employees are using AI tools nobody sanctioned. What they don't have is visibility: Which ones, what data is leaving through them, or when a new one shows up unannounced. LUMINATE by DNSFilter is our answer to that, and the AI Governance conversations we had this week were some of the longest and most detailed of the show.

We'll have a full GA offer ready in just a few weeks. Thank you to every Beta tester who's given us the feedback that got us here.

Standing Out in a Sea of Sameness

Walk any expo floor this year and you'll hear the same handful of words from booth after booth: Agentic AI. Autonomous response. Identity security. Those problems are real. The trouble is almost every vendor on the floor is pitching a version of the same story, and buyers have gotten very good at tuning that out.

We competed differently with something real to show, and a point of view most of the floor doesn't share. A DNS First approach to security is the only control point that sees everything, from managed laptops to AI agents making requests on a user's behalf. That point of view, backed by real solutions, is what made people stop at our booth instead of walking past it.

Beyond the Expo Floor

We hosted an enterprise dinner at Gordon Ramsay Steak and an MSP and channel partner dinner at the Bellagio this week. Time off the show floor like that matters because it’s where we get to hear what's actually on your mind, not just pitch across a booth.

On the floor itself, our team ran thousands of demos under the banner "Protect Every Click." Want the full, unfiltered, booth-level version of the week? Our Sr. Director of Product & Content Marketing, Serena Raymond, wrote it up here.

Room after room, customers, prospects, and partners described the same pain points: Remote and hybrid users nobody can see, AI tools nobody approved, and point solutions that don't share signals with each other. Then, unprompted, they told us they see DNSFilter as uniquely positioned to solve it. We're not making that claim ourselves. The rooms made it for us, all week.

To everyone who stopped by, asked hard questions, raced our slot cars, or sat down with us for a meal this week: Thank you. So many of you already consider us one of your leading partners, and weeks like this are exactly why.

We have some big announcements still coming. This was just the preview. Stay tuned.

Want to understand why DNSFilter is a market leader, and why a DNS First approach to cybersecurity is the right call in an AI era? We're happy to show you. Schedule a personalized demo today.

– Ken

Want the booth-level view of the week, jerseys and all? Read Serena Raymond's Black Hat recap. Want to see LUMINATE by DNSFilter™, our Shadow AI and AI Governance offerings, or our new Roaming Client and UI for yourself before the full launch? Reach out to your DNSFilter account team to request an early briefing.