Campbell, Calif., July 13, 2009 – Barracuda Networks Inc., today announced that the proven data deduplication technology used on-appliance with the Barracuda Backup Service has now been extended to the Barracuda Backup Agent, a lightweight software-based client side application, ensuring that more customers benefit from the increased storage savings using data deduplication.   Applying block-level deduplication inline, the Barracuda Backup Service can yield reductions in backup storage requirements between 20 and 50 times over what is required for traditional backup or snapshot technologies, effectively enabling customers to reduce backup windows and bandwidth requirements.

“While traditional disk-to-data snapshot technology eliminates the complexity of restoring full and incremental backups, it often carries a large price tag due to the associated storage requirements,” said Stephen Pao, vice president of product management for Barracuda Networks.  “Barracuda Networks complete data deduplication technology represents the best possible scenario in that it delivers the convenience of snapshots without the storage overhead.”

The Barracuda Backup Service, which includes an onsite appliance and offsite cloud-based backup and storage, intelligently and specifically targets only the data that is new, or that has changed during the previous backup runs, and uses aggressive data deduplication techniques to reduce the storage footprint of data added to the backup archive.

The Barracuda Backup Server combined with the Barracuda Backup Agent enables more frequent backups and reduces the file transfer requirements for backups by analyzing source data, isolating new transactions at the bit level and only copying, transferring and archiving new bit sequences.  This advanced data deduplication technology is applied within the revision history of a single file or data set as well as across the entire backup volume.   The Barracuda Backup Agent natively backs up data from Windows systems, such as, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SQL Server and Windows System State.

About the Barracuda Backup Service
The Barracuda Backup Service is an affordable, integrated local and offsite data backup and disaster recovery solution. The Barracuda Backup Service combines an onsite appliance with a monthly subscription that replicates data to two offsite locations. Combining local and offsite storage provides the best of both worlds - onsite backups for the fastest restore times and secure, offsite storage for disaster recovery.  The Barracuda Backup Subscription plans provide diverse offsite storage at affordable monthly fees and scale to meet increasing data requirements.  The Barracuda Backup Server is a powerful appliance installed onsite to provide full local backup of current and historical data, high backup performance and fast network-based local restores.  The Barracuda Backup Server also de-duplicates data at the origin to minimize the unnecessary storage of the same files or datasets, while providing efficient and secure offsite transfer using compression and encryption.

For More information, see the product information pages on BarracudNetworks.ca.

Optrics is a Barracuda Networks Diamond Partner.

For more information, contact:
Optrics Engineering
877-386-3763
780-430-6240
Email: info@Optrics.com

Barracuda Networks Press Release:

Campbell, Calif., June 10, 2009 – In light of reports of increasing incidents of scareware and rogue antivirus programs recently appearing on the Internet, Barracuda Networks Inc., today announced it is aware of a Web site promoting a rogue spyware program called “Barracuda Antivirus.”  If downloaded, reports indicate that the program performs a fake scan of the user’s computer, when in actuality it is installing spyware that will subsequently display pop-up ads and other unwanted applications.

“This rogue ‘Barracuda Antivirus’ program is in no way affiliated with Barracuda Networks and is just one of a string of recent examples of hackers attempting to spread malicious programs using an established and trusted Internet security brand,” said Stephen Pao, vice president of product management for Barracuda Networks.  “Our threat databases have been updated to protect all Barracuda Networks customers from visiting or downloading content from this rogue site and we advise all businesses and consumers to work directly with their trusted Internet security product vendors when deciding which solutions will best suit the needs of their networks.”

In addition, Barracuda Networks is reaching out to fellow Internet security vendors to ensure that their databases are also updated to protect customers from inadvertently accessing the Web sites that are hosting the fake executable program.

Another good reason to invest in a Barracuda Web Site Firewal. See the product information pages on BarracudNetworks.ca.

Optrics is a Barracuda Networks Diamond Partner.

For more information, contact:
Optrics Engineering
877-386-3763
780-430-6240
Email: info@Optrics.com

From SC Magazine:

The Web Site Firewall Model 460 is an application protection firewall, which resides on a single appliance device. The tool recognizes attacks by monitoring network traffic to and from the web server. The default configuration for the device is to run in bridge mode, but it can also be installed in a routed mode. Bridge mode allows the device to inspect traffic bi-directionally to the web server without the use of an IP address. The routed mode is similar to a traditional network configuration, whereby a separate IP address is installed on each interface of the website firewall. This configuration can cause a few problems, which the bridge avoids.

For example, the 460 becomes an inline device, which can cause a central point of failure. For this type of deployment, we recommend using the 460's redundant configuration. In the default mode, the tool does not stop network traffic if the unit fails. However, all traffic to and from the website would be blocked in the routed mode. The routed configuration is what is known as a "fail secure" configuration. This means that if the Web Site Firewall Model 460 does not explicitly permit the traffic, it will be dropped. The logging on the tool is performed via the syslog protocol. Several different types of events can be configured to send traffic to the syslog server.

As an integrator of many types of systems, the Web Site Firewall Model 460 in bridge mode has "goes in to" and "goes out of" ports. The installation and configuration are as simple as it comes. The entire installation and configuration guide takes up only a single piece of paper. Additional documentation covers the routing installation method, as well as very detailed explanations of the events which triggered alerts.

Support is offered through phone, email and a website. Email support is available 24/7 for all customers, and additional support is available for a higher fee. Barracuda also provides a website with a knowledge base, FAQ and live chat options for support.

The Barracuda offering is priced at $8,999 with no "per user" fees on top of that price. This puts the cost of the device at the lower end of the spectrum.

..end of SC Magazine story. To see the original article, visit SC Magazine.

Pricing and Availability

The Barracuda Web Site Firewall is available in three models: Barracuda Web Site Firewall 360, 460 and 660. U.S. pricing starts at $4,999. International pricing and availability varies based on region. For more information, please visit http://www.barracudanetworks.ca/website-firewall.aspx.

About the Barracuda Web Site Firewall

The Barracuda Web Site Firewall is a complete and powerful security solution for Web applications and Web sites.

The Barracuda Web Site Firewall provides award-winning protection against hackers leveraging protocol or application vulnerabilities to instigate data theft, denial of service or defacement of your Web site.

Many applications are vulnerable to such attacks because application developers do not consistently employ secure coding practices. Barracuda Web Site Firewall is designed to combat all attack types that have been categorized as significant threats, including:

• Cross Site Scripting (XSS)
• SQL injection flaws
• OS command injections
• Site reconnaissance
• Session hijacking
• Application denial of service
• Malicious probes/crawlers
• Cookie/session tampering
• Path traversal
• Information leakage

To learn more about the Barracuda Web Site Firewall, see the product information pages on BarracudNetworks.ca.

Optrics is a Barracuda Networks Diamond Partner.

For more information, contact:
Optrics Engineering
877-386-3763
780-430-6240
Email: info@Optrics.com

Barracuda Networks Inc. has launched the Barracuda Link Balancer, an affordable and powerful solution for routing and managing traffic across multiple Internet connections. Available in three models, the Barracuda Link Balancer optimizes the use of multiple Internet links, such as T1s, T3s, DSL and cable connections from one or multiple Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Capable of automatic failover in the event of link failure, the Barracuda Link Balancer ensures that customer networks are always connected to the Internet.

“Fast and reliable Internet connectivity is central to the majority of mission-critical business applications,” said Stephen Pao, vice president of product management for Barracuda Networks. “The Barracuda Link Balancer enables organizations to simply ‘add-on’ additional Internet connections for both speed and redundancy without other changes to their network environment.”

The Barracuda Link Balancer’s Web user interface allows administrators to define, manage and control bandwidth settings from one central location. Administrators can also view graphical traffic statistics to analyze hourly, daily or monthly usage. Clients and applications can be set permanently or for a predetermined period of time to be connected to specific links.

The Barracuda Link Balancer automatically detects Internet connection failure and enables service restoration. Tracking connections by saturation, availability, latency and performance, the Barracuda Link Balancer makes informed decisions to select the best link to handle Internet traffic without intervention from an administrator.

Designed to assist in scaling for high bandwidth requirements for organizations of all sizes, the Barracuda Link Balancer ensures that your network is always connected to the Internet while providing:

• Automated failover
• Bandwidth management
• Quality of Service (QoS) for Internet applications
• Traditional perimeter firewall capabilities
• Simplified management of IP networks via DHCP and DNS caching servers
• Aggregate T1s, T3s, DSL and cable Internet connections
• The Barracuda Link Balancer can either replace an existing edge router or firewall, or it can be deployed between the Internet and a network firewall. The Internet connection links plug into the Barracuda Link Balancer’s multiple WAN ports and LAN access is granted through the switch.

Pricing and Availability

The Barracuda Link Balancer is available in three models: Barracuda Link Balancer 230, 330 and 430. U.S. pricing starts at $1,999 with no per port charges or per server licensing fees. International pricing and availability varies based on region. For more information, please visit www.BarracudaNetworks.ca/link-balancer.aspx.

About the Barracuda Link Balancer

Available in three models, the Barracuda Link Balancer is an affordable and powerful solution for routing and managing traffic across multiple Internet connections, capable of handling up to six WAN links. The Barracuda Link Balancer combines bandwidth of multiple high speed connections while automatic failover ensures reliable connectivity to any of the available Internet links. The Barracuda Link Balancer automatically detects failure and service restoration for Internet connections. The Barracuda Link Balancer features an easy to use Web user interface, creating an intuitive and cost-effective administration tool for the integrated hardware and software solution. The Web user interface allows administrators to define, manage and control bandwidth settings from one central location.

For more information, contact:
Optrics Engineering
877-386-3763
780-430-6240
Email: info@Optrics.com

Optrics Engineering, a Barracuda Networks Diamond Partner since 2004, was recognized at the recent 2007 Barracuda Networks Partner conference as Barracuda's 2007 Top-Performing Global Partner for total Barracuda sales in all regions and countries of the world including the USA.

Optrics, with it's dedicated www.BarracudaNetworks.ca website, provides a full offering of Barracuda products and services from competitive quotes, to installation, configuration and full training for small business clients to large enterprises.

With this recent award formally acknowledging the success of the Optrics business model backed by the strength of Barracuda's leading-edge technologies, Optrics is well positioned for continued future growth as a Barracuda market leader.

Optrics is a Barracuda Networks Diamond partner.

For more information, contact:
Optrics Engineering
877-386-3763
780-430-6240
Email: info@Optrics.com

There's no question that spyware is bad. At the very least, it hogs network bandwidth, and at worst, it gives remote control of the computer to a third party. So what's a proactive IT administrator to do?

Barracuda Networks' Web Filter 310 uses content filtering and application blocking to protect networks from viruses and spyware. Originally called the Barracuda Spyware Firewall, the company renamed the product to reflect its extensive feature set and capabilities. Despite being heavy on the features, Web Filter 310 remains easy to use and fully customizable.

The appliance prevents new spyware and virus infections from penetrating the network. It takes a multilayered approach to blocking spyware sites, downloads and protocols. For example, spyware is automatically blocked if it comes from a URL previously determined to be malicious.

Barracuda has identified 57 predefined categories ranging from blatant offenders such as porn sites to less-blatant ones such as gambling sites. Along with reputation scoring, Web Filter blocks sites using domain names, predefined categories, URL patterns and MIME type. Web Filter also performs binary content scanning on all files coming in to detect spyware in realtime.

Priced at $1,999, Barracuda Web Filter was a snap to deploy and performed well without complexity. Since it can be placed in front of or behind the firewall, CRN Test Center engineers installed the unit in front of the firewall for testing purposes. The appliance blocked Web sites that had embedded spyware or tried to download spyware onto the test computer. Even better, the appliance detected spyware as it was phoning home on the test machine and prompted engineers to download and run the Barracuda Spyware Removal tool, an Active X control tool. By making the tool immediately available to the user as soon as the infection is detected, the problem is resolved quickly. In addition, because it's an online tool, administrators do not need to preload the tool on all affected client machines.

Although the device's strength lies in blocking spyware, it also blocks unauthorized Web sites, viruses, adware, malicious Web content and unauthorized applications. Web Filter 310 can also block peer-to-peer services, IM, file downloads, Web-based e-mail, music sites, proxies and chat sites.

Barracuda managed to avoid a common trap that other vendors blocking sites based on URL patterns and domain names often fall into: Engineers noticed that while the Barracuda Web Filter blocked porn sites, the appliance allowed oft-banned yet innocent to pass through, such as breast cancer education sites or sites that have trigger words embedded within their otherwise innocuous names.

This product also can set up and enforce Internet usage policies, such as restricting access to certain sites and limiting personal surfing during work hours. The system is LDAP-enabled, giving administrators a way to create and assign policy-driven rules based on individual users or group accounts.

The Web Filter appliance does not have separate management software but relies on a Web interface to the administration console. Once the appliance is configured during initial setup with an IP address, gateway and DNS information (using a monitor, keyboard and mouse plugged directly into the unit), administrators access the console via a Web browser from any computer on the network. The console, laid out in multitabbed Web pages, is packed with features, and almost every option can be customized. Administrators can immediately test changes made to filtering categories, whitelists and blacklists from within the console.

The most recent firmware update, version 3.1, expands the unit's reporting capabilities. Under this version, administrators can view log history and see reports on user behavior, historical traffic patterns, bandwidth usage, domain requests and Web site categorization. Designed to store approximately six months of traffic history, Web Filter also can drill down from summary reports for further analysis. Administrators can enable syslog messages through the Web console to log what happens to each traffic request performed by users to a text file.

For existing customers running Web Filter with pre-3.1 firmware, the upgrade is very straightforward. The Test Center received a pre-3.1 appliance and upgraded to 3.1 using the admin console within minutes.

Capacity varies by the model in the Barracuda Web Filter family. The Web Filter 310 can support 200 concurrent users, making it ideal for SMBs or branch offices. The high-end 910 model can support 4,500 concurrent users and has hot-swappable RAID and power supplies.

Barracuda Central, the company's technology center, automatically pushes down hourly updates of antispyware rules on to the unit. Energize Updates, as they are called, include databases for spyware removal, signature, Web sites and protocols, as well as antivirus definitions and content filters. As a troubleshooting feature, the unit also can open up a tunnel session with Barracuda Central.

Measuring 16.7 inches wide x 1.7 inches high x 14 inches deep, the steel-black unit is emblazoned with a blue panel in the front corner. It is 1U high, comparable to competitive products. Weighing 17 pounds, the appliance is sleek and attractive.

The 310 model comes with ports for connecting a standard VGA monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, a serial port, several USB ports and three Ethernet ports. One Ethernet port is located at the back of the unit and is used specifically for management. The LAN and WAN ports are located at the front of the unit. The front panel also contains the power button, the reset button and five indicator lights marking power, disk activity, cleaning activity and data transmission.

The company is channel-friendly, claiming more than 90 percent of its sales are driven through partners. Its channel program has five levels. There are no requirements to join at the lowest level, but there are high revenue goals to sustain the top-level discounts.

Barracuda estimates a 10 percent margin at the low end for solution providers. Other revenue opportunities include ongoing subscriptions. Partners interested in reselling premium services are required to undergo training.

All resellers can offer basic support, but only certified resellers can offer in-depth support. Otherwise, Barracuda handles the rest of technical support, including on-site premium programs. It also has an instant replacement service, where the new unit is shipped next business day.

For more information, contact:
Optrics Engineering
877-386-3763
780-430-6240
Email: info@Optrics.com

Mountain View, Calif., June 7, 2007 – Barracuda Networks, Inc., a leading provider of network security appliances, today launched the Barracuda Spam Firewall 100 for small businesses and organizations with 50 users or less. Priced at $899 with no per user licensing fees, the Barracuda Spam Firewall 100 offers the same easy to use, powerful spam and virus protection that more than 40,000 customers worldwide have come to rely on, at a price that is well within budget for smaller organizations.

“There was a time when small businesses could rely on alternative solutions to spam protection, including desktop software, email server plug-ins or even no spam protection, because they just were not targeted as often as medium and large enterprises,” said Stephen Pao, vice president of product management for Barracuda Networks. “However, botnets have changed the spam landscape and now any business, no matter its size, requires a layer of spam protection in front of the email server. Spam and virus protection at the gateway is becoming a vital necessity for even the smallest business and we are confident that the Barracuda Spam Firewall 100, with its market disruptive pricing, will be the perfect solution for this market segment.”

The Barracuda Spam Firewall 100 features the award–winning 12 layers of defense characteristic of the full Barracuda Spam Firewall line. These layers include: denial of service and security protection, rate control, IP analysis, sender authentication, recipient verification, virus protection, policy (user-specified rules), Fingerprint Analysis, Intent Analysis, Image Analysis, Bayesian Analysis, and a Spam Rules Scoring engine. In addition, the Barracuda Spam Firewall 100 will feature the latest tools designed to prevent image spam, including multi-pass optical character recognition (OCR) and automated fingerprint generation techniques, as well as Predictive Sender Profiling, a sophisticated technique aimed at preventing spammers from obfuscating their identities to circumvent reputation analysis. Combined, these protections result in a spam accuracy rating exceeding 95 percent out of the box.

Pricing and Availability

The Barracuda Spam Firewall 100 is currently available and priced at $899 for the appliance and includes six months of Energize Updates service. International pricing varies by region.

About Barracuda Networks, Inc.

Barracuda Networks is a leading provider of network security appliances for comprehensive email, Internet and IM protection.  Its products protect over 40,000 customers around the world, including Adaptec, Caltrans, CBS, Georgia Institute of Technology, IBM, NASA, Pizza Hut, Union Pacific Railroad Company, and the U.S. Treasury Department.  The Barracuda Spam Firewall and Barracuda Spam Firewall - Outbound protect organizations against spam, viruses, and violations to e-mail security policy.  The Barracuda Web Filter offers comprehensive content filtering and complete network protection against spyware, malware and viruses.  The Barracuda IM Firewall is the only all in one gateway solution for IM traffic management and security.  The Barracuda Load Balancer offers easy to configure, secure and comprehensive IP network traffic management across multiple servers.  Barracuda Networks is a privately held company with headquarters in Mountain View, California.  Barracuda Networks has offices in eight international locations and distributors in over 80 countries.

For more information, contact:
Optrics Engineering
877-386-3763
780-430-6240
Email: info@Optrics.com

Mountain View, Calif., June 5, 2007 – Barracuda Networks, Inc., a leading provider of network security appliances, today announced that the Barracuda Load Balancer now offers Layer 7 capabilities, expanding its existing IP load balancing capabilities to the application layer.  Barracuda Networks adds cookie-based session persistence and SSL offloading with certificate storage and management to Barracuda Load Balancer models 340 and higher, providing a complete Layer 7 load balancing solution at an aggressive price point.

“Since the launch of the Barracuda Load Balancer six months ago, we’ve tapped into a vast market of Web application and content providers that needed load balancing yet were unable to afford the historically steep price tags to acquire the technology,” said Stephen Pao, vice president of product management for Barracuda Networks.  “With these Layer 7 capabilities, we extend our load balancing offering to new applications and customers, maintaining our mission to enable organizations of all sizes to benefit from the latest networking technology.”

“The Barracuda Load Balancer has been tremendous in protecting our servers from system failures, especially for new product launches, trials or downloads, when we typically experience a spike in traffic to our Web site,” said Michael Morgan, IT manager of TechSmith.  “Due to its simplicity and reasonable pricing, the Barracuda Load Balancer has more than met our load balancing requirements.  Our IT staff also saves on both human and capital resources often associated with more complicated systems or costly hardware.”

Support for Layer 7 Cookie Persistence

Traditional IP load balancing, also known as Layer 4 session persistence, enables a load balancer to direct a user’s network traffic to the same Web or application server throughout an entire session based on that user’s IP address. However, corporate firewalls and Internet proxy servers often aggregate multiple users behind the same IP address, creating a situation when a load balancer requires a different mechanism to identify individual sessions.

With Layer 7 capabilities, the Barracuda Load Balancer can direct traffic and maintain session persistence for Web applications without relying on the user’s IP address with session cookies.  The Barracuda Load Balancer utilizes session cookies tying users to a single Web server that tracks and records personalized settings, ensuring persistence upon repeat visits to a Web site or portal.  Taking advantage of cookie persistence with the Barracuda Load Balancer requires no changes to the network or the Web applications themselves.

SSL Offloading and Certificate Management in the Data Center

To support SSL encryption of Web traffic, the Web application provider must typically undertake the cumbersome task of maintaining digital certificates on each Web server throughout the server farm. The burden increases with the need to update certificates across the server farm each year.  Through SSL offloading, the Barracuda Load Balancer eliminates the operational overhead by consolidating SSL certificates associated with SSL traffic into one location for simple storage and management.  The SSL offloading capability also streamlines the encryption and decryption of SSL traffic to quickly process secure online transactions without additional burden on any servers.

Pricing and Availability

The new Layer 7 capabilities are available with Barracuda Load Balancer firmware release 2.0 and higher on models 340 and 440.  Pricing varies by model and starts at $1,499 in the U.S. with no per port charges or per server licensing fees. International pricing varies by region.

About the Barracuda Load Balancer

Available in three models, the Barracuda Load Balancer is an affordable, scalable and comprehensive solution for intelligently distributing network traffic across multiple servers.  Barracuda Load Balancers support up to 50 servers with no per port or per server licensing fees for ultimate network efficiency.  The Barracuda Load Balancers offer network administrators reliability, speed and security through session persistence with cookie data, SSL offloading and network intrusion prevention.  Designed to achieve network flexibility and operational objectives, the Barracuda Load Balancer integrates powerful Layer 4 and Layer 7 load balancing functionality.  To minimize ongoing administration, Barracuda Load Balancers receive hourly Energize Updates made automatically by Barracuda Central to provide the most current intrusion prevention definition and security updates.

About Barracuda Networks, Inc.

Barracuda Networks is a leading provider of network security appliances for comprehensive email, Internet and IM protection.  Its products protect over 40,000 customers around the world, including Adaptec, Caltrans, CBS, Georgia Institute of Technology, IBM, NASA, Pizza Hut, Union Pacific Railroad Company, and the U.S. Treasury Department.  The Barracuda Spam Firewall and Barracuda Spam Firewall - Outbound protect organizations against spam, viruses, and violations to e-mail security policy.  The Barracuda Web Filter offers comprehensive content filtering and complete network protection against spyware, malware and viruses.  The Barracuda IM Firewall is the only all in one gateway solution for IM traffic management and security.  The Barracuda Load Balancer offers easy to configure, secure and comprehensive IP network traffic management across multiple servers.  Barracuda Networks is a privately held company with headquarters in Mountain View, California.  Barracuda Networks has offices in eight international locations and distributors in over 80 countries.

For more information, contact:
Optrics Engineering
877-386-3763
780-430-6240
Email: info@Optrics.com

The new in-depth reports provide network administrators deeper visibility into corporate Web usage enabling better management and assignment of bandwidth.

The new comprehensive reporting capabilities negates the need for separate database servers or reporting packages, and instead provides our customers with a one-stop shop for Web content filtering,” said Stephen Pao, vice president of product management for Barracuda Networks.  “Reporting is an integral part of administration, as it empowers IT with the visibility to enforce current Internet usage policy, as well as identify new Web usage trends that may warrant new policies.”

Deeper Insight Available via Expanded Reporting Engine

The Barracuda Web Filter expands its reporting capabilities by adding a complete set of reports based on criteria, such as user behavior, traffic patterns over time, bandwidth usage, domain requests, Web site categories and log history. For existing customers of the Barracuda Web Filter, the latest upgrade also enables customers to compile reports on historical Web traffic.  The Barracuda Web Filter is designed to store approximately six months of Web traffic history, depending upon volume. New reporting capabilities of the Barracuda Web Filter include:

• User Reports – Compound reports that provide very detailed views of Web usage by site and by hour for both user bandwidth and Web requests.

• Time-based Reports – Provide traffic patterns over time, including Web requests, bandwidth, actions by hour and Web site categories visited.

• Category Reports – Displays “most visited” Web site categories by domain requests and bandwidth utilized.

• Drill-down Reports – Interactive summary reports that enable “drill down” for further analysis.  For example, clicking on a domain name in the “Top Web sites by Bandwidth” report will show the “Top Users by Bandwidth” report with the destination filter on that domain name.  In this example, an administrator seeing bandwidth usage on an unexpected Web site can immediately determine which users are visiting that site.

• Scheduled Reports – Customizable reports that can be automatically delivered via email on daily, weekly or monthly intervals.

• Log Exports – The most detailed view of the log history, including the complete paths of Web sites visited.

• New Output Formats – Administrators have the choice to generate reports in PDF, HTML, text-only or comma-separated value (CSV) formats.

• New Filters – In addition to filtering report data by a date range, administrators can filter by source, such as IP address, user, or group. Reports can also be filtered by destination, such as domain or Web site category, where applicable.

Pricing and Availability

The new reporting engine is immediately available with Barracuda Web Filter firmware release 3.2.  All Barracuda Web Filter customers with current Energize Updates subscriptions may upgrade to the latest firmware release at no additional charge.  New customers will receive the latest version out of the box.  Pricing varies by model and starts at $1,499 in the U.S. with no per user licensing fees.  International pricing varies by region.

About the Barracuda Web Filter

Available in six models, the Barracuda Web Filter combines preventative, reactive and proactive measures to form a complete anti-spyware and content filtering solution for businesses of all sizes.  The Barracuda Web Filter is designed to enforce acceptable Internet usage policies by blocking access to objectionable content and unauthorized Internet applications.   At the same time, the Barracuda Web Filter's award-winning feature set enables the Barracuda Web Filter to block spyware downloads, prevent viruses, and stop access to spyware Web sites.  Unlike the widely available desktop software solutions, the Barracuda Web Filter is easily installed and does not require the additional time, money or resources necessary for downloading and maintaining software on each individual PC.  Hourly Energize Updates are made automatically by Barracuda Central so that the Barracuda Web Filter can block the ever-changing virus and spyware variants, as well as maintain the most up-to-date database of the latest productivity-inhibiting Web sites.

For more information, contact:
Optrics Engineering
877-386-3763
780-430-6240
Email: info@Optrics.com

The Barracuda IM Firewall is the only all-in-one instant messaging appliance to incorporate an IM server with public IM traffic monitoring, IM archiving and policy management technologies.  Using the Barracuda IM Firewall, customers can monitor and log all internal IM traffic over the internal server as well as all public IM traffic over popular public IM networks such as Yahoo!, MSN, AOL and ICQ.  New enhancements will allow IT administrators to monitor and log these same public channels without deploying an inline security appliance.  Logging IM messages is an important feature for organizations that need to comply with message retention policies for legal or regulatory reasons.

Pricing and Availability

The Barracuda IM Firewall is available in five models and pricing starts at $1,999 with no per user licensing fees.  Out-of-band message monitoring and logging capabilities will be made available to existing customers using firmware version 2.1 or higher at no extra charge and to new customers out of the box. 

About the Barracuda IM Firewall

The Barracuda IM Firewall is the first and only all-in-one instant messaging appliance to incorporate an IM server with native consumer IM traffic monitoring, IM archiving and policy management technologies in an easy-to-use and affordable solution, creating a secure and seamless channel for rapid business communication.  Available in five models, the Barracuda IM Firewall supports up to 7,000 users in a single system.  Organizations with more than 7,000 users can combine multiple Barracuda IM Firewalls serving distinct user segments to provide private and secure IM communication across very large communities.  With no modifications required to the network and an intuitive user interface for maintenance and monitoring, the Barracuda IM Firewall is easy to install and virtually maintenance-free.  Hourly Energize Updates are made automatically by Barracuda Central so that the Barracuda IM Firewall remains up-to-date with the most effective methods to identify and control public IM traffic and to combat ever-changing virus variants.

For more information, contact:
Optrics Engineering
877-386-3763
780-430-6240
Email: info@Optrics.com

“It's rewarding to be recognized as an outstanding workplace that energizes and continuously motivates our talented and bright team to reach new heights in fighting spam and other Internet threats,” said Dean Drako, president and CEO of Barracuda Networks.  “This award underscores our most basic commitment – creating a thriving environment that encourages innovation, dedication and professional growth – especially as we continue to expand and recruit the very best talent.”

The annual 2007 ranking was compiled based on results from a survey of approximately 161,000 Bay Area employees from 464 local companies across industries in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Solano, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Sonoma, Napa and Monterey counties. Companies were categorized by size and scored based on employee responses to a 37 question multiple-choice survey on a range of topics, including team effectiveness, individual contribution, manager effectiveness, trust in senior leaders, employee recognition, and work engagement among others.

About Barracuda Networks, Inc.

Barracuda Networks is the leading provider of application security appliances for comprehensive email, Internet and IM protection.  Its products protect over 40,000 customers around the world, including Adaptec, Caltrans, CBS, Georgia Institute of Technology, IBM, NASA, Pizza Hut, Union Pacific Railroad Company, and the U.S. Treasury Department.  The Barracuda Spam Firewall and Barracuda Spam Firewall - Outbound protect organizations against spam, viruses, and violations to email security policy.  The Barracuda Web Filter offers comprehensive content filtering and complete network protection against spyware, malware and viruses.  The Barracuda IM Firewall is the only all in one gateway solution for IM traffic management and security.  The Barracuda Load Balancer offers easy to configure, secure and comprehensive IP network traffic management across multiple servers.  Barracuda Networks is a privately held company with headquarters in Mountain View, California.  Barracuda Networks has offices in eight international locations and distributors in over 80 countries.  More information is available at www.barracuda.com.

“While 2006 marked the beginning of an assault on image spam, 2007 is marking yet another trend through spammer identity obfuscation,” said Stephen Pao, vice president of product management for Barracuda Networks.  “Taking an analogy from the financial industry, where reputation analysis is like a FICO score, identity obfuscation, like identity theft, requires profiling against anomalous behavior.”

“Reputation is a computationally efficient way to profile spam,” said Michael Osterman, president of Osterman Research.  “However, we have observed that spoofing, botnets, and other means of hiding behind the reputation of another sender have made this technique less effective than it might otherwise be.  As a result, while we believe reputation is very important, other spam prevention techniques that profile sender behavior will be very important moving forward.”

Predictive Sender Profiling

Modern spam trends require reputation data be augmented with behavioral profiling techniques.  For example, by taking control of networks of computers infected with malware (also called “botnets”), spammers can send email from diverse sources throughout the Internet, thus hiding their own identity from traditional reputation checks that profile sender network addresses.  By registering new domains or by redirecting to spam Web domains through reputable blogs, free Web site providers, or URL redirection services, spammers have also learned to hide their identity from traditional reputation checks that profile spam Web domains. When spammers obfuscate their identities, the Barracuda Spam Firewall can profile behaviors of all senders.  Examples include:

• Sending too many emails from a single network address.  The Barracuda Spam Firewall prevents spamming behavior from an email server even when it does not have a previously established reputation for doing so.

• Attempting to send to too many invalid recipients.  The Barracuda Spam Firewall automatically rejects SMTP connection attempts from email senders that attempt to send to too many invalid recipients, a behavior indicative of directory harvest or dictionary attacks.

• Sending email blasts on the first day after registering a domain.  Barracuda Central maintains domain reputations and automatically adds newly registered domains to Intent Analysis databases.

• Using free Internet services to redirect to known spam domains.   Barracuda Spam Firewalls with Multilevel Intent Analysis enabled, automatically follow URL redirections from free Internet services and analyze the reputation of the destination Web sites and their associated DNS configurations.

“As identity obfuscation continues to proliferate, the stand-alone value of reputation data diminishes,” said Pao.  “Through Predictive Sender Profiling, we are able to recognize bad sender behavior and implement a broad variety of countermeasures in real-time.  With six of the 12 comprehensive defense layers tunable through updates delivered by Barracuda Central, our engineers have the broadest set of weapons available to stop the spam.  Combining this set of weapons with the industry's most diverse and active compilation of email, Barracuda Networks can deliver industry-leading spam accuracy even as the spam landscape continues to evolve.”

“We have been using our Barracuda Spam Firewall since early 2005, and I can't imagine ever being without it,” said Jacob Nyhart, network engineer for South Carolina Heart Center.  “While spam trends keep changing, our Barracuda Spam Firewall seems to catch them right away and has continued to effectively block more than 98 percent of incoming spam here at SCHC.  We appreciate that Barracuda Central is profiling spammer behavior so that we don't have to.”

Barracuda Spam Firewall Reputation Analysis

While the standalone value of reputation data is diminishing, it remains an important baseline for sender profiling.  For reputation analysis, the Barracuda Spam Firewall leverages data on both network addresses used to send email and domain names embedded in the Web links of emails gathered by Barracuda Central, an advanced technology operations center where engineers continually monitor the Internet for trends in spam and virus attacks.  Both the IP and reputation data combined, enables Barracuda Networks to implement countermeasures to mitigate those threats.

For network addresses used to send email, Barracuda Spam Firewalls download two lists used in its IP Analysis defense layer – a Block list (“blacklist”) of known spammers and an Allow list (“whitelist”) of known senders with good email practices.  With these lists, Barracuda Spam Firewalls can efficiently differentiate those emails to be blocked or allowed with minimal processing.  Other network addresses in the “grey area” are left for further analysis through nine subsequent spam and virus defense layers.

Domains embedded in Web links of emails are analyzed through the Intent Analysis defense layer of the Barracuda Spam Firewall.  Intent Analysis is designed to capture the call to action of a spam email – to click on a Web link, call a phone number, or reply to an email.  Even when the network origin of an email cannot be identified, the intent of the email can often reveal the identity of the sender.  Barracuda Central maintains the reputation of Internet domains and their associated Domain Name Server (DNS) configuration.

“As a baseline for Predictive Sender Profiling, Barracuda Networks remains committed to delivering state-of-the-art reputation data,” continued Pao.  “With email sourced from our spam traps throughout the Internet, as well as submissions from thousands of customer systems worldwide spanning small and medium businesses, enterprises, government institutions, and Internet Service Providers across over 80 countries, Barracuda Central has the world's most diverse corpus of email on which to base reputation data.”

Pricing and Availability

The Barracuda Spam Firewall Reputation Analysis and Predictive Sender Profiling capabilities are immediately available with Barracuda Spam Firewall firmware releases 3.4.10.100 and 3.4.11.200.  All Barracuda Spam Firewall customers with current Energize Updates subscriptions may upgrade to the latest firmware releases at no additional charge.  For new customers, Reputation Analysis and Predictive Sender Profiling will be included out of the box.  Barracuda Spam Firewall pricing varies by model and starts at $1,499 in the U.S. with no per user licensing fees.  International pricing varies by region. ]]> Barracuda Networks annouced the Predictive Sender Profiling capabilities of the Barracuda Spam Firewall... Barracuda Networks 2007-04-17 http://www.BarracudaNetworks.ca/news/default.aspx?nid=9 http://www.BarracudaNetworks.ca/news/default.aspx?nid=8 8 Mountain View, Calif., April 5, 2007 – Barracuda Networks, Inc., the leading provider of application security appliances, today announced that the Barracuda Spam Firewall received the 2007 Lotus Advisor Editors' Choice Award in the “Administration: Email Security” category.  This marks the second year in a row that the Barracuda Spam Firewall has been selected by Lotus Advisor Magazine for an Editor's Choice Award designation.  Last year, the Barracuda Spam Firewall took home an Editor's Choice Award in the “Administration: Messaging Management” category.

“We are pleased to once again be recognized by Lotus Advisor Magazine as the choice for email security amongst Lotus Notes users,” said Dean Drako, president and CEO of Barracuda Networks.  “This award illustrated our ongoing commitment to protecting email users the world over from the ever-evolving spam and virus threats.”

The Barracuda Spam Firewall offers a powerful plug-in for Lotus Notes, enabling individual users to designate emails as ‘spam' or ‘not spam,' as well as automatically building personal whitelists of legitimate email users.  These features allow Lotus Notes users to train the Barracuda Spam Firewall based on their individual email activity and preferences, and increases the Barracuda Spam Firewall's already industry-leading spam blocking accuracy.  In addition, the Barracuda Spam Firewall also supports Lotus Notes, iNotes and Domino servers.

About the Barracuda Spam Firewall

The Barracuda Spam Firewall is available in six models and supports from 1,000 to 30,000 active users with no per user licensing fees.  Its architecture leverages 12 defense layers: denial of service and security protection, rate control, IP analysis, sender authentication, recipient verification, virus protection, policy (user-specified rules), Fingerprint Analysis, Intent Analysis, Image Analysis, Bayesian Analysis, and a Spam Rules Scoring engine.  In addition, the entire Barracuda Spam Firewall line features simultaneous inbound and outbound email filtering with the inclusion of sophisticated outbound email filtering techniques, such as rate controls, domain restrictions, user authentication (SASL), keyword and attachment blocking, dual layer virus blocking, and remote user support for outbound email filtering.  The Barracuda Spam Firewall's layered approach minimizes the processing of each email, which yields the performance required to process millions of messages per day.  For more information on the Barracuda Spam Firewall, visit http://www.barracuda.com/spam.

Lotus Advisor Editors' Choice Award

Judges for the Lotus Advisor Editors' Choice Awards consist of members of the Editorial Advisory board for Lotus Advisor Magazine. Categories are determined by the managing editor and are based by industry relevance. Products are generally chosen by application design, simplicity, ease of integration, etc., as well as other aspects that the judges consider important. Winners in the product categories are chosen at Lotusphere.  Link to the winners is posted online at http://www.LotusAdvisor.com and in the Lotus Advisor Magazine May 2007 issue.

About Advisor Media

Advisor Media provides the unmatched advice of top experts in a full range of media, including magazines, journals, email newsletters, conferences, seminars, workshops, CDs, on-site training, and dozens of Web sites. The expertise presented by Advisor comes from hard-won hands-on involvement with the leading technology products and services, and technical and business practices. For more information, visit http://www.Advisor.com.

New Multi-Pass Optical Character Recognition Engine

Image spam generally embeds text inside of images with the intent of hiding content from the text rules processing layers of spam filters.  To combat these forms of image spam, the Barracuda Spam Firewall has been shipping an optical character recognition (OCR) engine since July 2006.

In early attempts to foil OCR engines, senders of image spam attempted to use animated GIF files to spread content across multiple frames.  In addition, they attempted to obfuscate text inside their images by corrupting the images with lines, speckles and other image artifacts.  To neutralize these techniques, Barracuda Networks second-generation OCR engines incorporated both animated GIF analysis and fuzzy logic to stifle text obfuscation techniques.

With the third generation of image spam defense, Barracuda Networks has incorporated a new multi-pass OCR engine.  This new multi-pass engine performs deeper analysis by performing image pre-processing operations to normalize the images prior to final optical character recognition passes.  This additional processing is particularly effective against attempts to hide text by varying color and contrast combinations of text and backgrounds.  With these new techniques, Barracuda Networks has maintained a 95 percent accuracy rate in identifying and blocking image spam.

Automated Fingerprint Generation

In addition to adding processing capabilities inside the Barracuda Spam Firewall, Barracuda Networks has also significantly enhanced the image spam defense capabilities in its backend systems at Barracuda Central, an advanced technology operations center where engineers continually monitor the Internet for trends in spam and virus attacks, and develop strategies to mitigate those threats.

Barracuda Central collects image spam samples from its honeypot systems and from more than 40,000 customer systems throughout the world.  Once collected, Barracuda Central processes the identified spam images through the multi-pass OCR engine, generates fingerprints for these images and packages them for automatic delivery to Barracuda Spam Firewalls through hourly Energize Updates.  By comparing fingerprints of images in subsequent emails against a database of known spam images, the Barracuda Spam Firewall can efficiently and intelligently block image spam analyzed at Barracuda Central.

By combining the tremendous image processing power at Barracuda Central with the efficient handling of fingerprints in the Fingerprint Analysis layer of the Barracuda Spam Firewall, customers benefit from latest image processing techniques while minimizing the processing requirements on their Barracuda Spam Firewalls.

Pricing and Availability

The third-generation image spam defense capabilities are immediately available to all Barracuda Spam Firewall customers running firmware release 3.4.10 or later.  All Barracuda Spam Firewall customers with current Energize Updates subscriptions may upgrade to the latest firmware release at no additional charge.  For new customers, Barracuda Spam Firewall pricing varies by model and starts at $1,499 in the U.S. with no per user licensing fees.  International pricing varies by region.

In the review, featured in the February 2007 issue, the Barracuda Web Filter rose above the nine other products tested, based on its ease of use, performance and value, commanding five out of five stars.

“During the group test, it was easy to see that the Barracuda Web Filter stood head and shoulders above the rest with its easy installation, intuitive dashboard, comprehensive documentation and strong support.  It certainly deserved five stars in every category,” said SC Magazine's Group Test Reviewer Peter Stephenson. The Barracuda Web Filter product review includes the latest “soft” blocking and additional reporting capabilities, announced in early January.  The added soft blocking capabilities empower administrators to monitor and/or warn users who are not complying with the organization's Internet-usage policies, as well as provide new and enhanced reporting functionality.

“We are thrilled that SC Magazine recognizes the powerful features and ease of use offered by the affordable Barracuda Web Filter,” said Dean Drako, president and CEO of Barracuda Networks.  “As organizations discover the amount of inappropriate Web surfing conducted during business hours, Barracuda Networks is there to provide the intuitive tools to enforce company Internet-usage policies and ensure network health from Internet-borne viruses.”

To read the complete SC Magazine product review, please visit: http://www.scmagazine.com/us/.

About the Barracuda Web Filter

Available in five models, the Barracuda Web Filter combines preventative, reactive and proactive measures to form a complete anti-spyware and content filtering solution for businesses of all sizes.  The Barracuda Web Filter is designed to enforce acceptable Internet usage policies by blocking access to objectionable content and unauthorized Internet applications.   At the same time, the Barracuda Web Filter's award-winning feature set enables the Barracuda Web Filter to block spyware downloads, prevent viruses, and stop access to spyware Web sites.  Unlike the widely available desktop software solutions, the Barracuda Web Filter is easily installed and does not require the additional time, money or resources necessary for downloading and maintaining software on each individual PC.  Hourly Energize Updates are made automatically by Barracuda Central so that the Barracuda Web Filter can block the ever-changing virus and spyware variants, as well as maintain the most up-to-date database of the latest productivity-inhibiting Web sites.

Barracuda Networks, Inc., the leading provider of application security appliances, today announced that the Barracuda Web Filter can now restrict Skype usage by user, group or network IP address.  The Skype-management feature provides organizations with the tools to: better secure the network perimeter, limit bandwidth usage and eliminate unwanted communications.

“Skype is an excellent tool for organizations of all sizes to communicate globally.  Unfortunately, the consequences are security gaps associated with unmonitored and uncontrolled communications,” said Stephen Pao, vice president of product management for Barracuda Networks.  “To universally block Skype is not the best solution for a workplace.  Instead, administrators can determine who should have authorization and during what hours to best suit business needs – which wasn't an easy task for such a complex peer-to-peer application.”

Expanded Internet Application Control for Improved Management

The Barracuda Web Filter extends its granular policy controls of Internet application traffic to include comprehensive Skype and SkypeOut management.  Building on previous capabilities to manage public IM traffic, network administrators can now assign similar policy actions of Block, Accept, Warn, or Monitor to streamline the network usage of Skype and SkypeOut.  An added benefit to the new capability is the logging and visibility of communications outside of the organization, providing companies both a compliance and security solution.

Traditionally, peer-to-peer applications, such as Skype have been troublesome for administrators to control, because the applications do not use a fixed IP address.  In the case of the Skype protocol, it can operate across multiple TCP ports with encrypted traffic.  By profiling the behavior of Skype clients on the network and inspecting packets, the Barracuda Web Filter can enforce policy to restrict Skype logins and their associated voice communications traffic.

With this new feature, network administrators are now empowered to limit bandwidth usage to appropriate users, groups or network IP addresses that have legitimate business needs and during set hours.  For example, if a sales person communicates frequently with counterparts in Europe or Asia, this does not pose an issue.  The network administrator could set an Allow policy for the sales person to gain access during international business hours, such as early morning or late evening.

Pao added, “Companies and IT departments have struggled with how to securely integrate Skype into their day-to-day operation.  It isn't a simple matter of being strict parents withholding privileges; rather one must examine the value proposition of communicating with an open window primed for information leakage.  Barracuda Networks resolved the obstacle that benefits both users and corporate management – to simply and securely administer policy to manage Skype usage in the workplace.”

Pricing and Availability

These new features are immediately available with Barracuda Web Filter version 3.1.5, to all current customers at no additional charge.  New customers will receive the latest version out of the box.  Pricing varies by model and starts at $1,499 in the U.S. with no per user licensing fees.  International pricing varies by region.

About the Barracuda Web Filter

Available in five models, the Barracuda Web Filter combines preventative, reactive and proactive measures to form a complete anti-spyware and content filtering solution for businesses of all sizes.  The Barracuda Web Filter is designed to enforce acceptable Internet usage policies by blocking access to objectionable content and unauthorized Internet applications.  At the same time, the Barracuda Web Filter's award-winning feature set enables the Barracuda Web Filter to block spyware downloads, prevent viruses, and stop access to spyware Web sites.  Unlike the widely available desktop software solutions, the Barracuda Web Filter is easily installed and does not require the additional time, money or resources necessary for downloading and maintaining software on each individual PC.  Hourly Energize Updates are made automatically by Barracuda Central so that the Barracuda Web Filter can block the ever-changing virus and spyware variants, as well as maintain the most up-to-date database of the latest productivity-inhibiting Web sites.

"Each year brings an exponential increase to our customer base, proving that more and more customers worldwide recognize the power, performance, and reliability of Barracuda Networks and its products," said Dean Drako, president and CEO of Barracuda Networks. "With more than 40,000 customers worldwide, we are clearly entrenched as the dominating force in the application security marketplace. We look forward to serving our customers with the same first-class services and support that they have come to rely upon in 2007."

As part of its commitment to serving the needs of its customers, Barracuda Networks launched the Barracuda Load Balancer in the U.S. in November 2006. The Barracuda Load Balancer is designed to achieve high availability and security objectives by combining IP load balancing and network intrusion prevention into an affordable and easy-to-use appliance. The Barracuda Load Balancer provides comprehensive failover capabilities in case of server failure, distribution of traffic across multiple servers and integrated protection from network intrusions. The Barracuda Load Balancer is currently available in the U.S. and Canada and will be available to international customers in mid-February.

In August, Barracuda Networks renamed the popular Barracuda Spyware Firewall to Barracuda Web Filter as a reflection of new product capabilities and in response to the growing demand for a cost-effective option in the Web content filtering marketplace. In its first press review, published in October 2006 by InfoWorld magazine, the Barracuda Web Filter received a "Very Good" ranking with an overall score of eight out of 10. In the review, the editor praised the Barracuda Web Filter for providing "solid Web filtering for an economical price" with "more features and customization options than any other similarly priced device on the market."

In addition to the InfoWorld magazine review, Barracuda Networks was also recognized with numerous product and industry awards in 2006, including:

"The cross-site scripting vulnerability in Adobe Reader presents a real threat to email users," said Stephen Pao, vice president of product management for Barracuda Networks. "For example, an attacker could design an email with an embedded Web link to a PDF file of a reputable site that runs arbitrary code on the user�s Web browser. The Barracuda Spam Firewall now protects users from receiving emails that exploit this vulnerability."

The Adobe Reader vulnerability affects users who utilize the Adobe Reader plug-in to view Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) files within their Web browsers. To facilitate features such as populating fields in Acrobat forms, the Adobe Reader has the ability to pass URL parameters in Web links to the Adobe Reader plug-in. However, if scripts are embedded within the URL parameters, an attacker can run code in the user�s Web browser. The exploit can run against PDF documents posted on reputable Web sites without requiring an attacker to compromise that site in any way.

To prevent the proliferation of emails that could exploit this vulnerability, the Barracuda Spam Firewall now incorporates rules that look for URLs referencing PDF files that contain URL parameters. When scored with indicators of exploitive scripting, the Barracuda Spam Firewall will automatically block these messages, protecting users from potentially dangerous attacks.

The highly-trained engineers at Barracuda Central, an advanced technology operations center, continually monitor the Internet for trends in spam and virus attacks. When they detect threats and trends, such as the Adobe Reader exploit this week, updates are immediately made to the Barracuda Spam Firewall�s spam and virus definitions. Barracuda Energize Updates then automatically arm each Barracuda Spam Firewall with the latest definitions.

Pao added, "For Barracuda Networks, a virus or exploit is akin to a natural disaster that warrants immediate response. Our customers rely on us to deliver the most up-to-date definitions to minimize workflow disruptions. Through Barracuda Energize Updates, Barracuda Spam Firewalls receive the new updates automatically."

Pricing and Availability

All current Barracuda Spam Firewall customers with active Energize Update subscriptions receive automatic and ongoing protection against the latest forms of spam and other email threats at no additional charge. Customers running the version 3.0 spam rule definitions should ensure that their version number is at 3.0.30651 or higher, likewise customers running version 3.1 should ensure that their version 3.1.5316 or higher.

About the Barracuda Spam Firewall

The Barracuda Spam Firewall is available in six models and supports from 1,000 to 30,000 active users with no per user licensing fees. The Barracuda Spam Firewall can be installed in front of the email server in typically less than five minutes and is automatically updated hourly to block new forms of spam and viruses. Its architecture leverages open source spam and virus solutions in conjunction with twelve defense layers: denial of service and security protection, IP block list, rate control, dual layers of virus protection, user specified rules, spam fingerprint check, Intent Analysis, spam rule-based scoring, image analysis, sender authentication, recipient verification and Bayesian analysis. In addition, the entire Barracuda Spam Firewall line features simultaneous inbound and outbound email filtering with the inclusion of sophisticated outbound email filtering techniques such as rate controls, domain restrictions, user authentication (SASL), keyword and attachment blocking, dual layer virus blocking and remote user support for outbound email filtering. The Barracuda Spam Firewall�s layered approach minimizes the processing of each email, which yields the performance required to process millions of messages per day. Unlike software solutions, the Barracuda Spam Firewall reduces the load placed on the email server by off-loading both spam and virus filtering. Barracuda Networks also offers the Energize Update subscription service to automatically update the Barracuda Spam Firewall with the latest spam rules and virus definitions.

About Barracuda Networks, Inc.

Barracuda Networks is the leading provider of enterprise-class application security appliances for comprehensive email, Internet and IM protection.  Its products protect over 40,000 customers around the world, including Adaptec, Caltrans, CBS, Georgia Institute of Technology, IBM, NASA, Pizza Hut, Union Pacific Railroad Company, and the U.S. Treasury Department. The Barracuda Spam Firewall and Barracuda Spam Firewall - Outbound protect organizations against spam, viruses, and violations to email security policy. The Barracuda Web Filter offers comprehensive content filtering and complete network protection against spyware, malware and viruses.  The Barracuda IM Firewall is the only all in one gateway solution for IM traffic management and security. Barracuda Networks is a privately held company with headquarters in Mountain View, California. Barracuda Networks has offices in eight international locations and distributors in over 43 countries. More information is available at www.barracuda.com .

For more information, contact:
Optrics Engineering
877-386-3763
780-430-6240
Email: info@Optrics.com

Monday, January 1, 2007

For the original article in Windows IT Pro, Click Here.

Have you noticed a decrease in the amount of spam you've been receiving? Neither has Jacob Rowley. And like IT pros everywhere, he knows that some of those unwanted messages contain deadly viruses that could bring down his system. However, Jacob's company uses Barracuda Networks' Barracuda Spam Firewall 300, an integrated hardware and software solution that protects email servers from spam, viruses, phishing messages, and spyware.

The Barracuda Spam Firewall has a detection rate of as much as 97 percent and registers only 0.01 percent of false positives. To deal with the occasional false positive, "Barracuda has built some excellent search options into the product, which let me find a message that got blocked very easily and quickly," says Jacob.

He adds that Barracuda lets him search by whitelisted, blocked, virus, quarantined, or delivered messages. You can also search for messages by username or domain name. "Barracuda Spam Firewall is one of the best pieces of equipment in our entire organization," Jacob says. "It's such a great appliance that some people forget we have it because it does such a great job!"

Thursday, January 25, 2007

For the original article in MyHostNews.com, Click Here.

(MYHOSTNEWS) Chicago-based managed dedicated server provider SingleHop, Inc. has already netted a whopping 400 million pieces of spam through the use of Barracuda Networks, Inc.'s enterprise-class Barracuda Spam Firewall Outbound appliance.

"Spam is one of the most insidious problems with email today. Not only does it place a load on servers, it dramatically cuts into productivity at the office. Assuming that the average user spends a mere 30 minutes a day dealing with spam, the numbers add up to a staggering annual loss in productivity," says Zak Boca, CEO of SingleHop. According to SingleHop, 95% of the mail received and filtered is spam, which ultimately relieves 40% of the load on servers.

The Barracuda Networks award winning spam appliance uses a powerful combination of outbound keyword and regular expression scanning, outbound white listing, as well as several advanced detection techniques. The Barracuda Spam Firewall Outbound solution helps organizations and ISPs to ensure that all outgoing email is legitimate and virus-free.

"Most email recipients have no idea about what happens on the back end. A couple of years ago spam was the most talked about issue and most users were accustomed to cleaning out their boxes on a daily basis. With today's sophisticated filter a handful of virus free spam mails may get through, but it's nothing compared to what we catch," says Boca.

SingleHop has implemented the Barracuda Spam Firewall - Outbound at its data center located in Chicago, IL, where 700 managed, dedicated servers are located.