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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. Back to Top
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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