CudaMail Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some of the most frequently asked questions that we receive. If you have any other questions that aren't addressed here, feel free to
contact us.
If you are a domain manager for a domain that we are filtering, you can use the Support Form here.
Click the FAQ Category bars to open or close questions.
Pre-Sales Questions
- Can we use the service if we do not host our own exchange server but rather on a hosted provider (rackspace Etc)?
Answer:
Yes. All you need to do is get your MX Record changed to point to us. If you host your own server, it's easy to do. If someone else hosts your site/mail, you just log into the control panel and change the record, or have your host do it.
- Do we host E-mail?
Answer:
We don't currently host email. We "step between" the internet and your mail server in order to clean your incoming mail.
- What is the difference between CudaMail and MX backup?
Answer:
CudaMail scans your incoming mail for virus', malware and spam. MX Backup is intended for companies that have their own spam firewall, OR those companies that need backup mailbagging service if their mail server goes down.
CudaMail Service Questions
- How current are your virus and spam definitions?
Answer:
A team of security engineers at Barracuda Central continuously monitors the Internet for trends in spam and virus attacks. As they detect trends, Energize Updates are created and distributed to the CudaMail service and all Barracuda Spam Firewalls, which are automatically updated with new spam rules, spam algorithms, and virus definitions. These updates require zero administration and ensure that your network has comprehensive and accurate protection even as the methods of attack change. For the CudaMail service, the spam and virus definitions are updated hourly.
- How do I know my email will remain private?
Answer:
Email is processed inside the hardware. Further privacy is configured in the Barracuda Spam Firewall interface. The administrator can specify who can access the machine and it is password protected. For more information on the privacy of the CudaMail service, please read our Service Agreement
- Will I get false positives?
Answer:
The false positive rate of the CudaMail Spam & Virus Filtering Service is one of the lowest in the industry. In the rare event a wanted message is blocked, the Domain Admin has the ability to review, and request release of the message.
- How is SPAM Filtered?
Answer:
Incoming email is routed through the CudaMail Spam Filtering Service (powered by Barracuda technology) before it hits your mail server. Spam is tagged, quarantined or blocked based on preferences setup by the Domain Manager and/or end-user. Legitimate email is allowed through to the recipient.
- What happens to quarantined email?
Answer:
If configured for per-user quarantine, the email is stored on the Barracuda Spam Firewall itself. A daily "Spam Quarantine Summary" report will be sent and each user can decide for himself/herself whether they would like to release the quarantined messages and / or classify it as spam. A second option, instead, is that the Domain Manager can receive ALL quarantined email (sent to a single mailbox specified by the Domain Manager upon sign-up). With the exception of viruses, email messages are stored in their entirety, and can be retrieved should the need arise. From the designated quarantine mailbox the Domain Manager can determine what action to take against the quarantined emails.
- Would each email address have its own quarantine mailbox?
Answer:
Yes. If you wish, each email address (including aliases) will be quarantined individually to allow controlled custom settings for the specific email address (or alias). This is setup automatically by the service and requires no additional work on behalf of the Domain Manager. However, if you do not want individual quarantined mailboxes for all users, ALL quarantined email can be sent to a single mailbox specified by the Domain Manager upon sign-up. This way, the Domain Manager is responsible for sifting through quarantined messages.
- What per user preferences and settings does the service allow?
Answer:
- Personal Allow and Block Lists The CudaMail service can be configured to allow end users to have control over their individual allow and Block lists which further reduces the chance of false positives.
- End-User Quarantine The CudaMail service provides the ability to setup quarantine mailboxes where users can direct questionable email for later review. This greatly reduces the support load for large organizations.
- Quarantine Summary Emails A daily email is sent to all end users with a quarantine account summarizing the contents of their individual quarantine mailboxes. Here, each user will be able to choose if a particular email is spam or not thereby allowing the CudaMail service to adapt to the individual user's preferences.
Note: End-users do not have to remember any passwords or user IDs to access their quarantine mailbox; each summary account email is an html document with direct links pointing to the end-users quarantine mailbox with the appropriate verification embedded.
- Some spam is still getting to my inbox. How can I stop it?
Answer:
The nature of UCE (unsolicited commercial email) is that once a way has been found to defeat one method,
another is found for use by the spammers. The only thing that we can do is try to minimize the spam
that actually reaches the inbox. The complete solution toward this goal, also requires some action
on the user's part.
Configuring Your Firewall:
Once e-mail is flowing through the CudaMail service, you need to configure your Firewall to allow inbound access from our IP space.
Restricting inbound to our delivery servers will stop Spammers from bypassing the protection of the CudaMail Service by sending Spam directly to your mail server. Don't forget, spammers can check MX records as easily as we do!
Domain admins have access to tips on locking down their firewalls, via the Management Portal.
Any of the emails that have been identified as spam will have [CudaMail Tagged] in the subject line. If that isn't there, it's an indication that you haven't been blocking inbound connections, and spammers have bypassed the CudaMail protection.
If a spam message does happen to get through, you can forward us the X-ASG-Debug-ID of it and we can mark it in the Global Bayesian database. The ID can be found in the e-mail headers, and looks like the following example:
"X-ASG-Debug-ID: 1138982708-3218-174-0"
If the message does not have a X-ASG-Debug-ID then the message did not flow through the CudaMail service.
- I need to troubleshoot some lost email. Where can I start?
Answer:
Log into the Management Portal and review your logs to see if anything has come from this domain recently.
Do you have a subject line or something else that can help track down this message?
We have seen this type of problem when two domains used to share a mail server and one migrated off. If the
domain configuration and mailboxes were never deleted from the old mail server then any e-mail sent to the
old mail server would be placed directly into the old mailboxes and never forwarded on to the new mail
server.
We have also seen problems when a domain moves DNS servers and the records are never
removed from the old DNS servers. It can cause similar problems to the one mentioned above but usually results
in a bounce message.
- What is the lead time to setting up an account?
Answer:
We can typically have our end set up in minutes (after hours might take longer, and we perform quality checks, sanity checks and test and provide custom feedback for
your unique environment.
- What About Encrypted Email?
Answer:
Yes, the CudaMail system supports Encrypted Email - TLS (Transport Layer Security)
- What is Spam Scoring, Bayesian Analysis, and Email Fingerprinting?
Answer:
-
Question: What is Spam Scoring, Bayesian Analysis, and Email Fingerprinting?
Answer:
- Spam Scoring:
The rules- based system (about 4000 rules) that looks for characteristics in the email. The Spam scores are used to determine what to do with the email. They do not contribute directly to the future analysis. The rules are updated via the Energize Updates Subscription.
- Bayesian Analysis:
Contributes to the Spam scoring. This is done using emails that you flag as either SPAM, or NOT SPAM in the message log.
- Email Fingerprinting:
The identification of exact or substantially similar emails via the Barracuda Central clearing house. When an email is identified as being Spam, it is also sent to our clearing house and fingerprinted.
-
Question: What is the capacity of the message logs on the appliance?
The Barracuda Spam Firewall preserves log information for the last 500,000 messages and automatically removes old log information to maintain performance. Logs can be exported in real-time using syslog, a common tool supported by Unix systems as well as many third parties.
- Should I run Spam Filtering on my mail server?
Answer:
No, since your mail is being filtered by the CudaMail system, it's better to utilize just one system, as it's easier to monitor and adjust.
- What should I do about my Outlook Junk Mail?
Answer:
- Does CudaMail change my MX record?
Answer:
No. We're not in control of it. You are in control of your organization's DNS. Either you host it, or you can have it change via your hosting company.
- How do I change my MX record?
Answer:
If you're uncertain, we can provide advice / feedback on changing your MX record.
- What About Alias Domains and Users?
Answer:
We offer flexibiity when dealing with alias users and domains. For more information , contact us.
- Can you deliver to more than 1 mail server?
Answer:
Yes. We are able to deliver to your main mail server and a failover one.
- Why do you ask for a cell phone or emergency contact number?
Answer:
In case there's a problem with you mail server, and it occurs during your "off hours" we're able to give you the head's up.
- Can you deliver to more than 1 mail server?
Answer:
Yes. We are able to deliver to your main mail server and a failover one.
CudaMail Support Questions
- I am a CudaMail
end-user, who do I contact for support?
Answer:
You will need to get in touch with your Domain
Manager. If you are uncertain how to contact
him/her, please send an email to support@cudamail.com and we can help you with the contact information.
- What do the
Spam Scoring settings mean?
Answer:
As messages are processed
by the system some tests are yes/no tests
(virus infected / sending IP address black
listed) and some are value tests. After a
message has passed all the yes/no tests then
the content of the message and the way it is
put together is checked against 1000s of
value tests. Each test has a value or weight
and the message gets the sum total of all
failed tests. It is this final total score
that is compared against the
Tag/Quarantine/Block thresholds to decide
the fate of a particular message. We call
this our three strikes and you're out
testing.
- How Do I Retrieve a Header from my Email Client?
Answer: Here are a few client examples
To obtain it from your client it's best to refer to your product's documentation, but we've gathered a few examples as a convenience for you:
Microsoft Outlook Express 5 and 6
- Click the File menu.
- From here, choose Properties and then the Details tab.
- Click "message source" and then highlight, copy, and then paste everything from this window (Ctrl A and Ctrl C).
Microsoft Outlook 2000, 2002/XP, and 2003
- Double-click the message that you want to open.
- Select the Options submenu, which is located under the the View menu.
- From here, copy the text from the Internet Headers section.
Microsoft Outlook 2007
- Right-click on the message in your Inbox. (You don't have to open the message).
- Select "Message Options"
- From here, a Message Options pop-up window will appear on your screen. The Internet header information is located at the bottom, in a big textbox.
- Click in that "headers" textbox
- Press Ctrl A to select all the header information, and then press Ctrl C to copy the Internet header information.
Microsoft Outlook 2010
- Open the e-mail in which you wish to view the headers, and then click the File menu.
- From here, click the Info tab.
- Click the Properties button in the menu.
- A pop-up window will appear on your screen containing the e-mail with full headers.
- Place the cursor in the Internet headers: text box.
- Press Ctrl A to select all the header information, and then press Ctrl C to copy the Internet header information.
Microsoft Exchange
- Click the File menu.
- From here, click Properties and the Details tab.
- Click Message Source.
- Press Ctrl A to select all the header information, and then press Ctrl C to copy the Internet header information
Eudora
- Double-click on the subject line, which will open the e-mail.
- Click the blah blah blah button to reveal the headers.
- Copy the entire message from the body of the e-mail and then click Edit/Select All or Ctrl A.
- Right-click the message, press Ctrl C or Edit/Copy to copy the entire e-mail.
- Is there a fee to call tech support?
Answer:
We do not charge for CudaMail-related technical support. Our toll-free support number 1-877-386-3763.
- What are your Support Hours of operation?
Answer:
Our hours for tech support are 8AM to 5PM MST, however we monitor the service 24 x 7 and have staff on call to respond to any issues. Additionally staff are notified if a
support question comes in after hours from our website. After initial setup and testing most customers have very few questions and support concerns.
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Documentation
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