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Barracuda
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Barracuda?
How does it work?
How do I know my email
will remain private?
How is Spam
filtered?
Where can I access the settings?
What is
"Quarantine Inbox"?
What happens to quarantined email?
What
options are available under the "Quarantine Settings" menu?
What options are available under the "Spam
Settings" menu?
What are Whitelists/Blacklists?
What is
Bayesian Learning?
What is
Barracuda?
Barracuda is used to filter
all incoming email for the sau.edu domain (any mail addressed to YourNameHere@sau.edu). Barracuda filters
all incoming email for spam, phishing schemes, and viruses.
How does it
work?
The Barracuda uses a combination of filters,
lists, scanners, and definitions to score each email message. This score
ranges from 0 (definitely not spam) to 9 (definitely spam). Using these
scores, and
Bayesian filtering, the Barracuda learns which messages to accept and which to block. Based on
these scores, the Barracuda will take one of four actions:
- Block the Message - A message scoring equal to
or greater than the block threshold is not delivered to the
recipient.
Example:
Block Threshold = 8.0
Messages scoring 8.0 or higher will be blocked
- Quarantine the Message - A message scoring
equal to or greater than the quarantine threshold, but below the
block threshold is quarantined. Quarantined messages are sent to
your Quarantine Inbox. Each user has their own Quarantine Inbox.
Think of this as your "Not sure if you want this - INBOX".
Example:
Quarantine Threshold = 5.0
Block Threshold = 8.0
Messages scoring between 5.0 and 7.9 will be quarantined
Messages scoring 8.0 or higher will be blocked
Quarantined messages are stored in your Quarantine Inbox. A
Quarantine Summary will be emailed to you listing the messages in your Quarantine Inbox. By default,
Quarantine Summaries are emailed daily at 8:30am. Each message is listed in the
Quarantine Summary with links to deliver, whitelist, or delete. In
addition, there is a link at the bottom of the Quarantine Summary to
log into your Quarantine Inbox and make changes yourself.
Note:
You will only receive a Quarantine Summary if there are messages in
your Quarantine Inbox. If your Quarantine Inbox is empty, you will
not receive a Quarantine Summary.
- Tag the Message - A message scoring equal to or
greater than the tag threshold, but below the quarantine threshold
is delivered to the intended recipient(s). Tagged messages are altered to contain
"[SPAM]" within the subject line of the message.
Example:
Tag Threshold = 2.0
Quarantine Threshold = 5.0
Block Threshold = 8.0
Messages scoring between 2.0 and 4.9 will be tagged, and
delivered
Messages scoring between 5.0 and 7.9 will be quarantined
Messages scoring 8.0 or higher will be blocked
- Deliver the Message - A message with a
score below the tag threshold is sent to the intended recipient(s)
with no alterations.
Example:
Tag Threshold = 2.0
Quarantine Threshold = 5.0
Block Threshold = 8.0
Messages scoring between 0.0 and 1.9 will be delivered,
unaltered
Messages scoring between 2.0 and 4.9 will be tagged, and
delivered
Messages scoring between 5.0 and 7.9 will be quarantined
Messages scoring 8.0 or higher will be blocked
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Note: Setting any threshold to 10
will disable that option.
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How do I know my email will
remain private?
Email by its design is somewhat insecure, and
therefore not necessarily private. We do however take steps to ensure your email
is private and secure once it reaches the Barracuda.
Access to the Barracuda web interface is
restricted to secure connections. Connections using standard HTTP are not
allowed, this ensures that all traffic to and from the Barracuda web interface
is encrypted, and will remain reasonably secure. The Barracuda will also, after
a 20 minute period of inactivity, automatically log your account off.
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How is
Spam filtered?
All incoming mail is routed through the Barracuda
Spam Firewall. Spam is tagged, quarantined or blocked based on
global preferences as well user preferences.
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Where can I access the settings?
You can access your Barracuda Spam Settings
at https://spam.sau.edu, using your SAU
username and password that you use for your Email account.
Click here for detailed instructions.
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What
is "Quarantine Inbox"?
The Quarantine Inbox is meant to
provide you with a user-friendly interface to the Barracuda where you can manage
email that has been identified as potential spam, and has not been forwarded to
your actual inbox. Think of it as a “temporary detention center”. It
is a place the Barracuda stores email it suspects is spam and
provides you, the end user, with the option to deliver it to your actual inbox,
whitelist the sender, or delete it. It is also where you would train your
Bayesian database using the "Classify as Spam", and "Classify as Not Spam"
buttons.
Click here for detailed instructions.
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What happens to quarantined email?
Quarantined email is sent to your
Quarantine Inbox on the Barracuda, it is retained for 30 days.
Note: If email
in the Quarantine Inbox is not acted upon in 30
days, it is automatically purged.
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What
options are available under the "Quarantine Settings" menu?
The Quarantine Setting menu allows you to configure some
generic quarantine options.
1. Quarantine Enable/Disable is used to enable/disable the quarantine
for your account. If enabled, messages are quarantined on the server.
If disabled, messages that would have been quarantined will have their subject
line altered and will be delivered to your inbox.
2. Quarantine Notification Interval controls how often a status email is
sent informing you of your quarantine statistics (messages quarantined, messages
blocked, messages delivered, etc.).
3. Quarantine Notification Address is where your Quarantine Notification
emails will be sent. This address is defaulted but can be changed at
anytime.
4. You may change the interface language using this selection box.
Note: Be sure to save changes after modifications.
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What
options are available under the "SPAM Settings" menu?
Spam Settings control how mail is scored and delivered.
1. Enable Email Filtering: You may turn off your spam
filtering, at any time. To do so, turn this setting off (No).
2. Use System Defaults: By default, your email will be scored based
upon the system defaults (Tag Score: 10, Quarantine Score: 4, block Score: 7).
However, you may customize your scoring by turning this setting off (No).
3. Tag Score: The score determines when the subject line will be
altered. Altered messages will contain the tag "[SPAM]".
4. Quarantine Score: The score at which messages will be quarantined.
A message scoring lower than this setting will be delivered. A message
scoring higher will be quarantined.
5. Block Score: Blocked messages will be rejected back to the sender.
This score determines when messages will be blocked.
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What are Whitelists/Blacklists?
1. Whitelists (allowed addresses) are lists
that contain email addresses (username@domain.com) and domain names (domain.com) known to
send valid, legitimate emails. Emails being received from a user in this
list will be scanned for viruses only. If the email does not contain a
virus it will be delivered directly to the inbox.
2. Blacklists (blocked addresses) are lists
that contain email addresses (username@domain.com) and domain names (domain.com) known to
send unwanted, unrequested emails. Emails being received from a user in
this list will never be delivered to the inbox.
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What
is Bayesian Learning?
Bayesian Learning is a system to identify
patterns. In this case, it will identify your spam patterns (what you
think is spam, what you think isn't spam). The filter needs to be trained
in order to be of any use.
Click here for more
information.
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