Barracuda Networks Enhances Spam Fingerprinting Technology; Firmware Upgrades Immediately Available to Current Barracuda Spam Firewall Owners.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

RSA Conference 2004

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 24, 2004

Barracuda Networks, the leading provider of enterprise-class spam firewall solutions, today announced plans to augment the Barracuda Spam Firewall Family with immediate enhancements to its proprietary spam fingerprinting technology. Additions to the Barracuda Spam Fingerprint technology, will boost spam filtration using specialized URL analysis algorithms that will closely examine the URLs contained in suspicious email messages and compare them against Barracuda's database of known spammer URLs. These enhancements will improve the overall security for customers email as emails containing potential viruses embedded within false URLs are eliminated before reaching the users' network.

The Barracuda Spam Fingerprint technology examines the characteristics, or fingerprint, of messages previously identified as spam and uses this information to identify the same or similar messages each time they are intercepted by the Barracuda Spam Firewall. These real time fingerprint checks are continuously updated and provide a method of identifying spam with nearly zero false positives. While Barracuda's fingerprinting technology is not a new feature, enhancements to this technology make it possible for the Barracuda Spam Firewall to look specifically at the URLs contained in a message and compare it against domains previously identified as spam propagators. Barracuda has built a large database of known spam URLs that is continuously updated and is used to block spam upon interception. Each time a message is received containing a known spam URL within the message, it is automatically identified as spam and eliminated.

While Barracuda Networks and many competing solutions offer RBLs (Real Time Blacklists), which are used to compare the IP address of a suspicious email against a list of known spam IP addresses, the Barracuda Spam Fingerprint database of known spam URLs is a unique resource offered only with the Barracuda Spam Firewall Family. The database is built and maintained by Barracuda Networks using various spam collection techniques including honeypots designed to attract spam, as well as spam gathered from a multitude of Barracuda Spam Firewall test units in the field.

"Enhancing the Barracuda Spam Fingerprint technology is an integral improvement for blocking more spam without creating false positives," said Dean Drako, president and CEO of Barracuda Networks. "We believe that building and maintaining an expansive database of abusive spam URLs will play a vital role not only in improving the accuracy of our firewall, but also in keeping our solutions one step ahead of spammers attempts to get into our customers inboxes. Building and serving this database required building out our infrastructure to handle the increased traffic, but this additional investment illustrates Barracuda Networks commitment to providing the most robust set of features available for fighting spam with no additional cost to our customers."

Upgrades to the firmware are available immediately to all existing Barracuda Spam Firewall customers at no additional charge and are provided automatically.

About Barracuda Networks

Barracuda Networks is a privately held company with headquarters in Cupertino, California. The company was founded on the premise that spam is growing at an exponential rate and poses a tremendous threat to every company's productivity, and the optimal answer is a dedicated plug and play hardware solution. Barracuda Networks provides an enterprise-class spam filter and virus protection solution that has the ease-of-use and affordability that businesses demand. More information is available at www.barracudanetworks.com.