Using the Barracuda Spam Firewall

1. What is the Barracuda Spam Firewall?

2. How do I login to the Barracuda Spam Firewall to check my quarantine? Do I use my regular email password?

3. I haven't received an email from the Barracuda Spam Firewall yet, but I would like to check my quarantine.

4. I would like to change my password from the pre-generated one I was given.

5. What can I do with the email items I see in my quarantine inbox?

6. What are the "Whitelist" and "Blacklist" used for?

7. What do the "Classify as Not Spam" and "Classify as Spam" buttons do?

8. Can I force the Barracuda to not use my quarantine?

1: What is the Barracuda Spam Firewall?

The Barracuda Spam Firewall is a virus and spam filter. Its job is to filter all incoming email to the City of Bryan email users (.net and .com) for viruses, worms, and spam (unwanted, unsolicited email). The Barracuda Spam Firewall is a dedicated server specifically designed for this purpose alone.

The Barracuda Spam Firewall sits between the Internet and our email server. The Barracuda does not filter email sent by you or any other City of Bryan user. You should still use antivirus software on your computer.

The Barracuda has a feature called a "Quarantine", which is a holding area for your spam email. Each cityofbryan.net user can elect to use a quarantine. If your quarantine is turned on, the Barracuda will put email that it considers to be spam into your quarantine. Your quarantine is accessed and controlled from your web browser. If you are an existing customer and would like to use the quarantine, please call our helpdesk at 419-633-0900 to have the feature enabled. New customers will be asked during the installation if they would like to use a quarantine.

Even if you do not use the quarantine option, all email addressed to you is still analyzed by the Barracuda. If the email came from an Internet server that is known to be a source of spam or if the email contains a virus, it will be blocked. Currently, about 82% of incoming email is blocked because it is sent from a known Spammer that is on a global blacklist.

2: How do I login to the Barracuda Spam Firewall to check my quarantine? Do I use my regular email password?

The Barracuda Spam Firewall and our email server are two separate devices. They are not connected in any way, thus requiring two separate passwords.

The first time the Barracuda Spam Firewall quarantines an email intended for you, the system sends you a greeting message with a subject line of “User Quarantine Account Information”. The email should look like the one shown below. This email provides you with both your email address and a pre-generated password to log into the Barracuda. You should save this email since future messages received from the system will not contain your login information. *Notice: You can change your password once you have logged into the system.*

You can also click the link at the bottom of the email to take you directly to your quarantine. This will automatically log you in.

To log in manually use the link below:

http://mailas.cityofbryan.net:8383

After the first greeting email, you will receive daily "Spam Quarantine Summary" emails from the Barracuda if you have new items in your quarantine. These emails will also provide you a link to automatically log you into your Quarantine Inbox. Please note, for security reasons this link will be active for only 24 hours.

3: I haven't received an email from the Barracuda Spam Firewall yet, but I would like to check my quarantine.

The barracuda will only send you email when you receive new quarantined messages, up to once per day. If you have not received an email, do the following:

Click on the link below:

You should see the screen below:

Now, you will need to enter your FULL email address in the "Username" field. If your email address is "john@cityofbryan.net", enter your email address as shown below. Do not just enter "john", the Barracuda will not recognize you. Then click the box that says "Create New Password". The Barracuda will email you a pre-generated password as shown in #2.

4: I would like to change my password from the pre-generated one I was given.

First log into the Barracuda using either the link in the email (as shown in #2) or by clicking this link:

http://mailas.cityofbryan.net:8383

After you log in, you should see your quarantine inbox as shown below. *Note: You may or may not have quarantined messages. This will not affect the password change procedure.*

Now, click on the "Preferences" tab then the "Password" tab. The password screen will look like the one below.

Enter the pre-generated password that you should have received in an email (refer to #2) in the "Old Password" box.

Then enter what you want your new password to be in the "New Password" box and then re-type it into "Re-Type New Password" box.

*Notice: As stated in the picture above, changing this password will not affect or change the password to your email account. You can, however, use the same password if you wish. Also, changing your password is not required.*

5.What can I do with the email items I see in my quarantine inbox?

-Clicking on an email will display the message details for you.
-To select several items, click the checkbox to the left of each item.
-To select all messages on the page, click the checkbox to the left of "Date Received".

If you determine an email is not Spam, under "Actions" click "Deliver". The email will be sent on to our email server so you can retrieve it normally. To deliver multiple emails, check-mark the emails and click the "Deliver" button at the top.

To delete an email from your quarantine, under "Actions" click "Delete". To delete multiple emails, check-mark the emails and click the "Delete" button. To delete all emails on the page, click the checkbox to the left of "Date Received" and then click the "Delete" button.

6. What are the "Whitelist" and "Blacklist" used for?

Your personal Whitelist and Blacklist prescribe what you can do to email coming from a specific email sender.

Whitelist: Adding a full email address (john@abcde.net) or domain (*@abcde.net) to the "Whitelist" box instructs the Barracuda Spam Firewall to "always" deliver an email coming from this sender. If the email contains a virus or comes from a server known to send spam, it will still be blocked and not be delivered.

Blacklist: Adding a full email address (john@abcde.net) or domain (*@abcde.net) to the "Blacklist" box instructs the Barracuda Spam Firewall to block and not deliver an email coming from this sender. This is your "personal" blacklist, not to be confused with the "global" blacklist that the Barracuda uses to block email coming from known spam sites.

The easist way to add email addresses to the Whitelist is by clicking "Whitelist" under the "Actions" column. To whitelist several items, check-mark them in the left column and click the "Whitelist" button at the top (see image below).

To add addresses to either the Blacklist or Whitelist, click the "Preferences" tab followed by the Whitelist/Blacklist Tab at the top of the screen. Manually type the email address into the appropriate box and click "Add" (see screen below). Previously entered items can be deleted by clicking on the trash can icon next to the address.

7. What do the "Classify as Not Spam" and "Classify as Spam" buttons do?

The "Classify as Not Spam" will reduce false positives (legitimate emails sent to your quarantine). By classifying an email as not spam, the next email received by the Barracuda with the same characterics will more likely be allowed through. To classify a message as not spam, put a check beside the message and click the "Classify as Not Spam" button.

Currently the Classify as Spam button has no effect. Email that comes from a known spammer or contains viruses is blocked by the Barracuda. If you want to block additional email coming from a particular sender or domain, use your personal blacklist as described in point 6. above.

8. Can I force the Barracuda to not use my quarantine?

Yes. Click "Preferences" then "Spam Settings" (see image below)

If you select "No", all of your emails will be sent to the email server and not be scanned for Spam.

If you have any questions regarding the Barracuda Spam Firewall, feel free to call our Internet Help Desk at 419-633-0900.