Barracuda not removing my ip address from their list. Anyone have a contact?

corey · July 2020

I created a new mailserver for a small business I am thinking of starting up on an ip address that my customers used in the past on our virtual machine platform. I mailed the city to try and get some permits and a message came back saying my email was rejected due to a barracuda listing.

I promptly opened a removal request on barracudacentral.org I waited 24 hours and it was not removed. I figured I may have not submitted the form, so I tried again, and at this time I also filled out the contact form with all the details and rejection message. Noone ever contacted me back and it is still listed, this was weeks ago.

Does anyone have contacts at barracuda so I can try to get this single address removed from the list?

hostworld · July 2020

Have you tried emailing [email protected]?

InceptionHosting · July 2020

They are pretty strict on the removal you have to give a really good reason or they will ignore it, if it has been more than 12 hours they basically read, disagreed and ignored your request.

Try a more detailed request make sure you let them know you are an ISP give links that evidence that you control the IP now etc.

corey · July 2020

@hostworld said:
Have you tried emailing [email protected]?

If that is where this form submits to then yes -> https://www.barracudacentral.org/contact

corey · July 2020

@AnthonySmith said:
They are pretty strict on the removal you have to give a really good reason or they will ignore it, if it has been more than 12 hours they basically read, disagreed and ignored your request.

Try a more detailed request make sure you let them know you are an ISP give links that evidence that you control the IP now etc.

Weird, I have other ranges that they aren't this strict on. Guess they don't like this one.

dedipromo · July 2020

If you really need to use that specific IP address, one method is to get it certified by Return Path https://www.validity.com/products/returnpath/certification/. You'll have to pay a one-time $200 certification fee $1000+ licence fee yearly, which in my opinion is not worth it.

KamalW · July 2020

Barracuda is not managing their block lists in an acceptable manner. Blocking when spam is detected is acceptable. But unblocking should also happen when the spam sending stops. Sometimes non-spammers get blacklisted due to reasons that cannot be called their own faults. An example is an email account getting compromised. If all the black lists operate in a manner where unblocking is not automatic, that forces innocent host owners and hosting providers to spend an unfair amount of resources to send unblocking requests. Host owners and hosting providers should take reasonable measures to control spam. I don't disagree with that. But when such reasonably protected hosts get blacklisted, if the cost of unblocking is too high, that again is in favor of bad guys. Due to this reason, Barracuda is a poor solution. When my servers get blacklisted at Barracuda, I don't really bother about it. When I receive delivery reports about failed delivery due to Barracuda listing, I inform the intended recipients via a different channel that they could not be reached due to Barracuda and ask them to avoid it.

In short, avoid Barracuda, it is in favor of bad guys.

rcy026 · July 2020

I agree with KamalW. Barracuda is poorly maintained and seems to be run by total assholes.
I have never in my life sent spam or abused in any way, still I have spent many many hours fighting to get removed from Barracuda's list. Sometimes successfully, but most times not.

lightblade · August 2020

i'm facing this issue long time ago.. i found mxroute, and move all my mail to them, and never look back. it's hard to maintain ip from blacklist.

ulayer · August 2020

Did you make sure you have a PTR record for your MX IP (& SPF record for domain allowing the IP)? I feel like a lot of private RBLs including AT&T and Yahoo block for this reason alone. It's very frustrating to get unlisted, although I haven't had much of a problem getting delisted from Barracuda.

Rahul · August 2020

Throw one of these

at them to assert your intentions ?

MaxKVM · August 2020

@ulayer said:
Did you make sure you have a PTR record for your MX IP (& SPF record for domain allowing the IP)? I feel like a lot of private RBLs including AT&T and Yahoo block for this reason alone. It's very frustrating to get unlisted, although I haven't had much of a problem getting delisted from Barracuda.

We are running into an issue with SpamRATS regarding records that we inherited on one of our subnets. They want us to have a mail server running on at least one IP before they escalate the case.. so we are going to set up a backup mx with PTR/SPF/Everything and see how that goes.

corey · August 2020

@ulayer said:
Did you make sure you have a PTR record for your MX IP (& SPF record for domain allowing the IP)? I feel like a lot of private RBLs including AT&T and Yahoo block for this reason alone. It's very frustrating to get unlisted, although I haven't had much of a problem getting delisted from Barracuda.

I do not have a PTR record come to think of it, but they should probably tell me that's why I can't get unlisted. Will try that and report back.

angstrom · August 2020

@corey said:

@ulayer said:
Did you make sure you have a PTR record for your MX IP (& SPF record for domain allowing the IP)? I feel like a lot of private RBLs including AT&T and Yahoo block for this reason alone. It's very frustrating to get unlisted, although I haven't had much of a problem getting delisted from Barracuda.

I do not have a PTR record come to think of it, but they should probably tell me that's why I can't get unlisted. Will try that and report back.

A PTR record is a sine qua non if you want to send mail. (And you shouldn't really expect Barracuda to tell you this.)

corey · August 2020

@angstrom said:

@corey said:

@ulayer said:
Did you make sure you have a PTR record for your MX IP (& SPF record for domain allowing the IP)? I feel like a lot of private RBLs including AT&T and Yahoo block for this reason alone. It's very frustrating to get unlisted, although I haven't had much of a problem getting delisted from Barracuda.

I do not have a PTR record come to think of it, but they should probably tell me that's why I can't get unlisted. Will try that and report back.

A PTR record is a sine qua non if you want to send mail. (And you shouldn't really expect Barracuda to tell you this.)

I also don't expect Barracuda to blindly deny my delisting request due to a PTR record since that isn't what their list is for. I highly doubt this is even the issue.

ulayer · August 2020

@MaxKVM said:

@ulayer said:
Did you make sure you have a PTR record for your MX IP (& SPF record for domain allowing the IP)? I feel like a lot of private RBLs including AT&T and Yahoo block for this reason alone. It's very frustrating to get unlisted, although I haven't had much of a problem getting delisted from Barracuda.

We are running into an issue with SpamRATS regarding records that we inherited on one of our subnets. They want us to have a mail server running on at least one IP before they escalate the case.. so we are going to set up a backup mx with PTR/SPF/Everything and see how that goes.

SpamRATS has been horrible to deal with. They have flat out refused to delist an entire range of IPs one time..

ulayer · August 2020

@corey said:

@angstrom said:

@corey said:

@ulayer said:
Did you make sure you have a PTR record for your MX IP (& SPF record for domain allowing the IP)? I feel like a lot of private RBLs including AT&T and Yahoo block for this reason alone. It's very frustrating to get unlisted, although I haven't had much of a problem getting delisted from Barracuda.

I do not have a PTR record come to think of it, but they should probably tell me that's why I can't get unlisted. Will try that and report back.

A PTR record is a sine qua non if you want to send mail. (And you shouldn't really expect Barracuda to tell you this.)

I also don't expect Barracuda to blindly deny my delisting request due to a PTR record since that isn't what their list is for. I highly doubt this is even the issue.

Their delisting system is automated and I don't think a human really looks at them. You will never receive a response from a human through their automated system. This is the case with most RBLs really. None of the ones I've encountered will tell you why and IP is listed either.

I do recall several instances where Barracuda listed an IP, I've added a PTR and made sure the PTR record response (example: mail.domain.com) resolves to the same IP and they removed the listing. The forward and reverse matching are really important for mail delivery.

angstrom · August 2020

@corey said:

@angstrom said:

@corey said:

@ulayer said:
Did you make sure you have a PTR record for your MX IP (& SPF record for domain allowing the IP)? I feel like a lot of private RBLs including AT&T and Yahoo block for this reason alone. It's very frustrating to get unlisted, although I haven't had much of a problem getting delisted from Barracuda.

I do not have a PTR record come to think of it, but they should probably tell me that's why I can't get unlisted. Will try that and report back.

A PTR record is a sine qua non if you want to send mail. (And you shouldn't really expect Barracuda to tell you this.)

I also don't expect Barracuda to blindly deny my delisting request due to a PTR record since that isn't what their list is for. I highly doubt this is even the issue.

But the thing is that a properly set up mail server should have a PTR record. Spammers often use mail servers that aren't set up properly.

Naturally, we can't say whether this is Barracuda's exact issue or not, but at the same time, the conclusion that it's not may not be so useful.

MaxKVM · August 2020

@ulayer said:

@MaxKVM said:

@ulayer said:
Did you make sure you have a PTR record for your MX IP (& SPF record for domain allowing the IP)? I feel like a lot of private RBLs including AT&T and Yahoo block for this reason alone. It's very frustrating to get unlisted, although I haven't had much of a problem getting delisted from Barracuda.

We are running into an issue with SpamRATS regarding records that we inherited on one of our subnets. They want us to have a mail server running on at least one IP before they escalate the case.. so we are going to set up a backup mx with PTR/SPF/Everything and see how that goes.

SpamRATS has been horrible to deal with. They have flat out refused to delist an entire range of IPs one time..

Indeed, they refused to delist the subnet. They have the whole Class C listed on "RATS-Dyna - Worst Offender Alert" list, and insist that we have multiple mail servers running on the subnet to get them to consider a removal.

ulayer · August 2020

@angstrom said:

@corey said:

@angstrom said:

@corey said:

@ulayer said:
Did you make sure you have a PTR record for your MX IP (& SPF record for domain allowing the IP)? I feel like a lot of private RBLs including AT&T and Yahoo block for this reason alone. It's very frustrating to get unlisted, although I haven't had much of a problem getting delisted from Barracuda.

I do not have a PTR record come to think of it, but they should probably tell me that's why I can't get unlisted. Will try that and report back.

A PTR record is a sine qua non if you want to send mail. (And you shouldn't really expect Barracuda to tell you this.)

I also don't expect Barracuda to blindly deny my delisting request due to a PTR record since that isn't what their list is for. I highly doubt this is even the issue.

But the thing is that a properly set up mail server should have a PTR record. Spammers often use mail servers that aren't set up properly.

Naturally, we can't say whether this is Barracuda's exact issue or not, but at the same time, the conclusion that it's not may not be so useful.

Completely agree here. All mail servers should have a PTR record.

corey · August 2020

@angstrom said:

@corey said:

@angstrom said:

@corey said:

@ulayer said:
Did you make sure you have a PTR record for your MX IP (& SPF record for domain allowing the IP)? I feel like a lot of private RBLs including AT&T and Yahoo block for this reason alone. It's very frustrating to get unlisted, although I haven't had much of a problem getting delisted from Barracuda.

I do not have a PTR record come to think of it, but they should probably tell me that's why I can't get unlisted. Will try that and report back.

A PTR record is a sine qua non if you want to send mail. (And you shouldn't really expect Barracuda to tell you this.)

I also don't expect Barracuda to blindly deny my delisting request due to a PTR record since that isn't what their list is for. I highly doubt this is even the issue.

But the thing is that a properly set up mail server should have a PTR record. Spammers often use mail servers that aren't set up properly.

Naturally, we can't say whether this is Barracuda's exact issue or not, but at the same time, the conclusion that it's not may not be so useful.

What do you know, adding PTR didn't get me delisted. Submitted another request yesterday and the address is still listed as 'poor' with the Barracuda reputation system.

angstrom · August 2020

@corey said:

@angstrom said:

@corey said:

@angstrom said:

@corey said:

@ulayer said:
Did you make sure you have a PTR record for your MX IP (& SPF record for domain allowing the IP)? I feel like a lot of private RBLs including AT&T and Yahoo block for this reason alone. It's very frustrating to get unlisted, although I haven't had much of a problem getting delisted from Barracuda.

I do not have a PTR record come to think of it, but they should probably tell me that's why I can't get unlisted. Will try that and report back.

A PTR record is a sine qua non if you want to send mail. (And you shouldn't really expect Barracuda to tell you this.)

I also don't expect Barracuda to blindly deny my delisting request due to a PTR record since that isn't what their list is for. I highly doubt this is even the issue.

But the thing is that a properly set up mail server should have a PTR record. Spammers often use mail servers that aren't set up properly.

Naturally, we can't say whether this is Barracuda's exact issue or not, but at the same time, the conclusion that it's not may not be so useful.

What do you know, adding PTR didn't get me delisted. Submitted another request yesterday and the address is still listed as 'poor' with the Barracuda reputation system.

If I may ask, what score does your mail server obtain at https://www.mail-tester.com/ ?

corey · August 2020

@angstrom said:

@corey said:

@angstrom said:

@corey said:

@angstrom said:

@corey said:

@ulayer said:
Did you make sure you have a PTR record for your MX IP (& SPF record for domain allowing the IP)? I feel like a lot of private RBLs including AT&T and Yahoo block for this reason alone. It's very frustrating to get unlisted, although I haven't had much of a problem getting delisted from Barracuda.

I do not have a PTR record come to think of it, but they should probably tell me that's why I can't get unlisted. Will try that and report back.

A PTR record is a sine qua non if you want to send mail. (And you shouldn't really expect Barracuda to tell you this.)

I also don't expect Barracuda to blindly deny my delisting request due to a PTR record since that isn't what their list is for. I highly doubt this is even the issue.

But the thing is that a properly set up mail server should have a PTR record. Spammers often use mail servers that aren't set up properly.

Naturally, we can't say whether this is Barracuda's exact issue or not, but at the same time, the conclusion that it's not may not be so useful.

What do you know, adding PTR didn't get me delisted. Submitted another request yesterday and the address is still listed as 'poor' with the Barracuda reputation system.

If I may ask, what score does your mail server obtain at https://www.mail-tester.com/ ?

Also just added my DMARC record.

corey · August 2020

Results today after adding my DMARC record ->

Barracuda not removing my ip address from their list. Anyone have a contact?

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