What is Barracuda Networks

he Barracuda spam filter works efficiently because it knows it should look for the “deal breakers” first. That means it’s going to check blocklists and scan for viruses before it examines smaller spam signals.

The Barracuda spam report

is a pass-through system that uses custom X-headers, which are added to the email’s main header and used by mailbox providers to determine if an email should be blocked, marked as spam, or land in the inbox.

Here’s an example of a Barracuda header:

It’s a lot to take in, right? Let’s break down two of the most important X-headers in this string of text, because that’s what you really care about.

The X-Barracuda-Spam-Score

This bit of the header indicates the final result of spam scoring after all the tests and checks are performed.

X-Barracuda-Spam-Score: 2.03

Keep your Barracuda spam score low enough, and mailbox providers are more likely to open the door to your subscribers’ inboxes. But if your email crosses a threshold and scores too high, you’re probably going to land in spam or even get blocked.

Of course, the score 2.03 doesn’t mean much on its own. It sounds low. But is it low enough? That depends…

The X-Barracuda-Spam-Status

Here’s a look at the information in the X-Barracuda-spam-status header:

This x-header defines the parameters for what gets delivered to the inbox, filtered to spam, or blocked.

First, you’ll notice the word “No” at the start of the X-header. That means this email was not considered spam (isn’t that a relief?). That’s because a score of 2.03 doesn’t meet the criteria for getting tagged, filtered, or blocked. There are three “levels” mentioned in this X-header:

1. TAG_LEVEL=3.0 This means if an email reaches a score of 3.0, it could be tagged in the inbox as possible spam because some things were a little bit suspicious.
2. QUARANTINE_LEVEL=5.0 This means if a message scores 5.0 or higher, Barracuda recommends that mailbox providers treat it like true spam and send it to the junk folder.
3. KILL_LEVEL=7.0 This means that if the message reaches a score of 7.0 or higher, it should be rejected and blocked from delivery.

There are two important factors to keep in mind about Barracuda spam scoring. For one thing, the thresholds we used above are not necessarily the same rules every mailbox provider will use. That’s because the filter is customizable. While we used some standard levels for scoring in our example, a more aggressive approach could look like this:

• 0.0 – 1.99 –> Delivered to Inbox.
• 2.0 – 3.49 –> Delivered to Inbox. Subject line tagged with [SPAM?].
• 3.5 – 5.00 –> Delivered to Barracuda Quarantine Inbox.
• 5.1 – 10.0 –> Blocked from delivery

Secondly, the Barracuda spam filter can also be set to East Timor Business Email List check for , including SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. As a sender, it’s important to have email authentication set up and working properly.

How do I get off the Barracuda blocklist?

Mistakes happen, and you may find your sending domain or IP address ends up on the Barracuda blocklist. This is not a death sentence for your  but it will take a little work to remedy the situation. That’s because removal from the Barracuda blocklist is a manual process.

Before you try to get removed, you need to know what went wrong. about its blocklisting methodology:Most IP addresses are listed as a result of directly sending spam or viruses to the Barracuda Reputation System’s detectors. The  UAE Cell Number Barracuda Reputation System detects spam by using honeypots, special addresses created to receive only spam and do not belong to any real user and through analysis of captive spyware protocol activity.”