Barracuda Networks – Security Appliances

The first time I encountered Barracuda Networks was after a company I supported suffered a rash of infected computers.  Each computer could take up to 8 hours for a full wipe and re-install.  We realized that if we could limit what people were seeing via their web browsers, and their email, we could reduce the number of infections and increase productivity at the same time.

Barracuda Networks offers much more than just their Spam filter and Web filter, but I am now a firm believer in these two particular products.

The SPAM will virtually eliminate spam from your inbox, you can choose to receive a summary email displaying all of your blocked messages, and deliver a message if it was inadvertently caught.  Having used the appliance myself for years at this point, I can say that I’ve only encountered a couple of false positives in that time.  The trick is to adjust the sensitivity based on your particular needs.

The Web filter is equally impressive.  Most websites are rated by content, and an appliance like this will check the website you are trying to access against your policy and allow or disallow appropriately.  For companies with a large number of computers, systems like this become invaluable in ensure people visit only work related websites which of course keeps productivity up, and reduces the number of infected computers.  If you like to keep your employees happy, go ahead and grant a certain amount of leeway, but do it in a controlled way using a Barracuda Networks Web Filter appliance.