SERVICE DESK
Computer Center
CPO 2208
859-985-3343
Office Hours:
M–F, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Contact:
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| How
do I use the Barracuda anti-spam filter? |
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General Information
The Barracuda anti-spam server inspects all email coming into
campus from the Internet for spam and either delivers the message
to your email inbox, quarantines the message for your review,
or blocks the message altogether. The device only checks
email coming from off-campus, it has no effect on mail sent
within the College email system. The Barracuda device
has the advantage of allowing each user to decide what they
do or do not consider spam, or you may accept the system defaults
if you choose.
- Email Delivery of Spam Control Summary
At 8:00 a.m. each day you will receive an email similar
to the one below which will list messages that have been quarantined
during the previous 24 hours. While you may choose at this
point to either deliver, whitelist, or delete each message, it
is preferable to click the “click here” link
at the bottom of the page for more options. Clicking
this link automatically logs you into your account on the Barracuda
server. From there you can classify each quarantined message
as either spam or not spam, allowing the server to learn your
individual preferences.
- Logging in to the Barracuda Administrative Screens
You may also log in to the server at any time by going to https://spamfilter.berea.edu (Note
the https, as this is a secured server you must
include this). Your username and password are the
same as for your network and regular email login.
- Updating Your Personal Spam Database
Classifying Email Flagged by the System (Whitelist,
Spam and Not Spam)
After clicking the Login button your quarantine inbox will open
on the server. Check the box by the message you want to
manage. Click “Whitelist” to
deliver the message and flag that sender never to be quarantined
again. Click “Classify as Spam” to
delete the message and update your personal preference database. Click “Classify
as Not-Spam” to deliver the message and update
your personal preference database. Updating you personal
database allows the system to learn your individual preferences
and, over time, adjust accordingly.
- Adjust Default Settings for Your Particular Email Box
If you feel spam is still reaching your inbox, or the
system is quarantining more messages than you would like, you
may adjust the system wide settings to you preference. Click
the Preferences tab, then click Spam
Settings. Change “Use Systems Defaults” from
Yes to No and click “Save Changes.”
You may now adjust the settings to your preference by changing
the number by each of the three settings. Increasing
the numbers allows more messages to reach your inbox. Decreasing
the numbers causes more messages to be caught by the server. Numbers
may be incremented by tenths. After you have adjusted the
numbers, click “Save Changes.”
“Tag Score” delivers messages with a score between
the chosen value and the “Quarantine Score” value
to your email with the message “Possible Spam” appended
to the subject.
“Quarantine Score” places any message with a score
between the chosen value and the “Block Score” value
to your quarantine inbox on the Barracuda server.
“Block Score” automatically deletes any message with
a score equal to or greater than the chosen value.
Use Block Score carefully as blocked messages can never be retrieved. Similarly,
be careful when deleting messages or classifying them as spam
as once deleted, they can never be retrieved.
Do not set the same value for any two scores (i.e. both Tag Score
and Quarantine Score to 4) as the system will not know which
action you wish it to take and will take no action.
Note: The “Recommended” settings
have been found in our testing to be far too lenient, and we
do not recommend using the Recommended settings. The system
default settings we established as 10 for Tag Score, 2.5
for Quarantine Score, and 6 for Block Score tend to catch most
spam while having few false positives.
- Permanently Allow or Block Messages
You can permanently allow or block messages from individual addresses
by using whitelists and blacklists. Whitelists always allow
messages from that sender to be delivered. Blacklists
block all messages from the blacklisted sender. Messages
you whitelist in your Quarantine Inbox are automatically added
to your whitelist.
To manage whitelists and blacklists manually, click “Whitelist/Blacklist” from
the Preferences screen. To add to your
whitelist, type in the complete address and click Add. This
will flag the system to never quarantined mail from that address. Do
the same to permanently block addresses by using the Blacklist
field.
To remove addresses from whitelists and blacklists, click the trashcan
icon next to that message.
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