Email attacks are getting harder to spot and faster to execute. Attackers are using automation, phishing-as-a-service kits, and AI-generated messages to make scams more convincing. Security teams now have to protect Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace from email attacks that do not stop once they reach the inbox.
Barracuda Networks has launched
Barracuda Integrated Email Protection, a new ICES offering built to detect, explain, and remediate email threats across the full attack lifecycle. The product runs on the BarracudaONE platform and is designed for both individual customer environments and multitenant MSP operations, according to the company.
Targeting post-delivery email risk
Barracuda Integrated Email Protection is designed to protect email environments before, during, and after message delivery. Email attacks are not done when a message reaches a user’s inbox. Links can change after delivery, and compromised accounts can be used for follow-on attacks. The new product supports rapid post-delivery message clawback and uses AI to reassess email threats continuously. Barracuda says the system can explain verdicts from Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Barracuda in one interface, giving administrators a clearer view of why a message was flagged or allowed.
Brian Downey, senior vice president of product management for Barracuda, told MSSP Alert that the first operational benefit for MSPs should be a reduction in manual effort.
“MSPs should expect a meaningful reduction in manual effort,” Downey said. “Integrated Email Protection cuts noise by reducing both false positives and false negatives through advanced AI-driven threat investigation. At the same time, it accelerates analysis with natural language explainability with the Bailey AI assistant - so analysts can quickly understand what happened and why, without digging through fragmented data.”
This can help MSPs and security analysts cut down on the time spent jumping between tools, as is usually the case in customer environments that use Microsoft’s native controls, third-party email security, endpoint telemetry, and identity signals, which are reviewed separately. Barracuda is trying to bring those signals closer together through BarracudaONE telemetry across email, identity, network, data, and applications.
AI assistant adds context for security teams
The launch also builds on Barracuda’s use of Bailey, its AI assistant for Email Protection. Barracuda describes Bailey as an AI assistant integrated into Email Protection that helps users get answers about Barracuda products and real-time insights from their data. In the new Integrated Email Protection release, Bailey is positioned as a way to explain security decisions in plain language and help teams review or reverse actions. This is helpful for MSPs and MSSPs, as automated remediation can reduce cleanup work, but customers still want to know why a message was removed, quarantined, or allowed.
Downey said the product’s resilience features are also meant to reduce post-incident cleanup.
“Its resilience capabilities - like real-time clawback and tenant-wide remediation - eliminate hours of post-incident cleanup,” Downey said. “Instead of chasing down threats across users and environments, analysts can contain and remediate issues instantly. The result is a more streamlined workflow where teams spend less time triaging alerts and more time on higher-value security work.”
MSP operations are part of the product strategy
Email security is often one of the first security services an MSP adds for small and midsize customers. But as attacks get more complex, basic filtering is not enough. Partners need tools that can detect compromised accounts, remove malicious messages after delivery, document what happened, and show customers what was protected.
Barracuda says the product includes value reporting that shows threats stopped before, during, and after delivery. That can help MSPs with quarterly business reviews, renewals, and customer education. It also gives partners a clearer way to explain why email security needs to be managed continuously, not treated as a one-time setup.
Downey said reporting is one of the first measurable improvements MSPs should see.
“The first measurable improvement is immediate visibility into impact and value,” Downey said. “Built-in reporting quantifies threats blocked before, during, and after delivery, giving MSPs clear, real-time proof of protection effectiveness. This not only validates security outcomes right away - it also makes it easier to demonstrate value to customers without additional effort.”
Pricing and packaging angle for partners
For MSPs already selling Barracuda email security, the company is positioning Integrated Email Protection as an expansion of existing capabilities rather than a separate rip-and-replace motion.
“Integrated Email Protection is available to existing customers at the same price as their current AI-based email security tools - delivering significantly expanded capabilities without increasing cost,” Downey said.
He added that the product can run alongside Microsoft and third-party secure email gateways, giving MSPs another way to assess existing protection and show customers where added controls are helping.
“Its flexibility to run alongside Microsoft and third-party secure email gateways, combined with easy-to-use reporting and comprehensive value tracking, gives MSPs a simple way to assess performance and clearly demonstrate the added impact of advanced protection,” Downey said. “This creates a natural path to drive expansion and deepen customer value.”
Barracuda is also tying the product to its broader managed security and resilience portfolio. Downey said Integrated Email Protection is natively integrated with Barracuda Managed XDR and data protection products, which could help MSPs package email security with broader detection, response and backup services.
AI security pitch
Every email security vendor is now talking about AI. Barracuda is trying to separate its message by focusing not only on AI-powered attacks, but also on how AI is changing how people interact with email.
“While many vendors are talking about AI, most of that narrative focuses on how AI is used within their tools or how attackers are leveraging AI,” Downey said. “Barracuda is addressing both, but we’re also focused on a critical and often overlooked shift: how AI is fundamentally changing user behavior - and what that means for security.”
Downey said the rise of AI tools that help users read, write, and act on email changes how security teams need to think about email protection.
“As people increasingly rely on AI to read, write, and act on email, traditional security approaches break down,” Downey said. “Barracuda Integrated Email Protection is built specifically for this new reality. It addresses how organizations interact with email today - identifying non-human senders, accounting for faster decision-making and email engagement, and keeping pace with the accelerated attack chain driven by AI.”
Downey said Barracuda’s approach is to provide continuous defense across the full attack lifecycle, including threats that become malicious after delivery.
“Barracuda delivers continuous, autonomous defense across the full attack lifecycle - not just at the point of delivery,” Downey said. “It goes beyond basic automation by continuously detecting, reevaluating, and automatically removing threats, including those that become malicious after delivery.”
