Barracuda Spam Firewall
E-mail is one of our key communication tools within the district, and offensive and inappropriate e-mail messages have become an increasing problem. Because of this, we installed the Barracuda Network Spam Firewall. It will help us deal with these unwanted messages in a much more effective manner. The key benefit of the Barracuda Spam Firewall is the detection, elimination, and filtering of spam.
There are three main types of e-mail messages: e-mail messages that we want to receive, e-mail
messages that we do not want to receive (spam), and e-mail messages that are suspect. The messages that are identified as spam are automatically blocked, quarantined, tagged, or delivered based on your personal spam filtering preferences.
Spam Filtering Categories
Filtering Category
Definition
Blocked
Blocked messages have been identified as spam.
• Messages on your Blacklist
• Messages with suspicious intent (i.e. phishing, or malicious) • Messages that contain viruses. By default, viruses are
always blocked.
Note: Messages that are blocked and/or contain viruses are
automatically blocked and deleted without review or notification. The sender will not be notified of this action.
Quarantined
Quarantined messages have been identified as possible spam and
are being held for you to review and decide what action should be taken.
Note: If no action is taken on the quarantined messages then
after 30 days they will be deleted.
Tagged Tagged messages have been identified as questionable and will be delivered with a Spam notice in the subject line.
Barracuda Spam Firewall Accounts
• Automatically created Quarantine Mailbox accounts • Manually created Quarantine Mailbox accounts
Automatically Created Accounts
The first time the Barracuda Spam Firewall quarantines one of your messages a Quarantine Mailbox will automatically be created for you. A quarantine mailbox will not be created until a message is
quarantined or you manually create your account. Once a message is quarantined the Spam Firewall
will send you a welcoming (greeting) message that explains how to access your Quarantine Mailbox. That message will contain a link to your User Quarantine Account Information.
Note: Your entire e-mail address is used for your Quarantine Mailbox username;
however, it is important to understand that your Quarantine Mailbox is separate from your normal e-mail account.
Domain
User Group
CHS For CHS Staff and Students
MVHS For MVHS Staff and Students
SRVHS For SRVHS Staff and Students
SRVUSD For all other District Staff
Note: If the Security Alert screen appears answer Yes.
Managing Your Quarantine Mailbox Account
Managing Individual Messages
When the Barracuda Spam Firewall quarantines one of your messages it sends a summary reports to you so that you can review your quarantined message/messages. Review the list and then select Deliver (deliver the message to your inbox), Whitelist (add the sender to your allowable list), or Delete (completely delete each message).
Important Note: You cannot read the quarantined message from the
summary screen. You must use the
Click Here
link at the bottom.
At the end of the quarantine summary report there is a link to the quarantine interface where you can set
Select: Deliver Whitelist Delete Select to deliver, whitelist, or delete quarantined messages.
Click the link to access your quarantine interface to set preferences, read your quarantined messages, and classify your messages.
Managing your Quarantine Inbox
Your Quarantined Inbox displays all of your quarantined messages until you act on them.
Actions that can be performed on this page:
Action
Description
Deliver Delivers the selected message to your standard e-mail inbox.
Whitelist
Adds the selected message to your whitelist so all future e-mail messages from this sender will not be analyzed for spam but it will be scanned for viruses or banned attachments.
Delete Deletes the select message from your quarantined list and the message will not
be delivered.
Classify as Not Spam
Classifies the selected message as not spam. This selection teaches the Barracuda server to make better decisions in the future with respect to handling Spam.
Classify as Spam
Classifies the selected message as spam. This selection teaches the
Preferences
We configured the Barracuda with a basic set of spam detecting policies and you can further set your own preferences. The Barracuda Spam Firewall has a learning engine that learns how to deal with future messages based on the ones that you classify as spam and not spam. The learning engine becomes more effective over time.
List Type Description
Whitelist The list of e-mail addresses that you wish to receive messages from.
Note: The only time that the Barracuda Spam Firewall blocks a
message from someone on your Whitelist is when the message contains a virus or a disallowed attachment.
Blacklist The list of senders from whom you never want to receive messages. The Barracuda Spam Firewall immediately discards messages from senders on your blacklist. These messages are not tagged or quarantined and cannot be recovered.
Note: Currently blocked:
• PIF • SCR
•
VBSBe sure to Log Off when you are done.
Enter the complete address that you want to receive
messages from and then press Add.
Enter the complete address that you
do not
want to
References
Barracuda Networks. 2005. Barracuda Spam Firewall User’s Guide. Page 3 - 10
Computer Communications Limited. 2006. Barracuda Networks Spam Firewall – spam blocker/e-mail filter. Barracuda Spam Firewall. http://www.ccl.co.uk/barracuda.html
