Seeking clarification about this module vs. what Core provides...

I've recently been trying to deal with a number of malicious requests using Autoban and while that module works, I'm leaning towards trying to restrict access to my entire site by allowing only specified ranges. In other words, instead of the current restrictive policy I use where I ban specific ranges, I'm thinking about doing the inverse where I ban everyone but whitelist specified ranges.

What I'm curious about is this: what's the difference between this module and the Core functionality Drupal provides with the IP Blocking screen combined with the "IP Ranges" module? And is it possible to whitelist an entire country and prohibit every other country from access?