Barracuda Firewall: Tough To Beat, Easy To Set Up
barracuda firewall systems have proven to be the name to beat as far as security is concerned. Offering a winning combination of cutting edge features and easy configurability, barracuda firewall systems present tremendous bang for the buck, especially when compared to similar security solutions out there.
Set up of the barracuda firewall went by in as little as one hour, by which time most of the important components of the program had already been set up. We then tested it out by routing traffic into the barracuda, and it seemed that every thing was working as it should be. Now, it was time to check out the barracuda firewall’s more advanced features.
The barracuda firewall offers a single sign-on feature in products from the Model 400 and newer. This allows the barracuda to connect to LDAP, Radius, and POP3 services, with user authorization required for logging in. This alone makes the barracuda firewall system more convenient for users as well as administrators.
We found the configuration process for this feature quite straightforward as well. All we had to do was enable the Login Realm Selector. We were then able to define a name for local logons.
The other advanced feature in the barracuda firewall arsenal is the MS Exchange Accelerator. This connects directly to Active Directory and checks if an email address is legitimate before accepting it. This makes up greatly for the flaw in Exchange, which allows it to accept emails for all recipients, whether they are legit or not.
Believe it or not, there is actually a reason for this “feature” in Exchange. If all emails with non-existent addresses were automatically rejected, spammers could simply check mail servers for legitimate e-mail addresses. All of this passing back and forth and processing of emails that lead nowhere could bog down servers and result in poor service. What this means is that as long as spam filters are used, it is largely irrelevant if spammers harvest the email addresses of your users, since most of them will have their addresses already in circulation among spammers.
After tweaking and testing a few more features, it was on to the installation of an SSL certificate. At this point everything seemed to be working in order and we were confident that the barracuda firewall would offer adequate protection from some pretty formidable attacks. You may want to train your users to use the product’s other features such as the quarantine site and the selection of Outlook plug-ins included, after which you will probably notice a considerable reduction in the amount of spam-related issues you have to deal with on a regular basis.
Few products on market are as effective as the barracuda firewall. With a host of innovative features that represent the cutting edge in security technology, barracuda is truly the one to beat. And with an ease of use and versatility that belies the impressive technology under the hood, the barracuda firewall is definitely one of our top picks.
