Barracuda AI Data Security represents a major milestone in Barracuda's expanding AI Security portfolio. Built on the BarracudaONE ® platform, the solution combines AI visibility, data protection, threat defense, and governance into a single integrated experience that makes AI security accessible and scalable.

Businesses are embracing AI faster than they can securely govern it. New findings from Barracuda Research reveal that nearly half of senior IT leaders say their teams lack the skills required to securely govern AI already in use across their businesses. The consequences are already emerging: according to IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026, 68% of organizations that experienced a breach lacked policies to manage AI or detect shadow AI, highlighting the urgent need for stronger AI governance, protection and data security practices.

"AI adoption is accelerating faster than most businesses can keep pace, creating one of the most urgent new security and compliance challenges organizations face today," said Neal Bradbury, Chief Product Officer at Barracuda. "Organizations need a practical way to secure AI as a new attack surface, protect sensitive data, enforce responsible use, and demonstrate compliance. At the same time, they need the confidence to embrace and accelerate AI adoption as a driver of productivity and innovation. Barracuda AI Data Security delivers those capabilities in a single, easy-to-deploy solution. This is the first of several innovations that will expand our AI Security suite and help businesses unlock AI's full potential, securely."

Watch Bradbury's video message for deeper insight into today's announcement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-GMl2OGy7E

A Complete, Intelligent Solution for Safe AI Adoption

Barracuda AI Data Security helps businesses confidently embrace AI by combining security, governance and compliance into a single solution. It provides full visibility into AI usage, enables approved AI tools safely, inspects prompts and uploads in real time, and generates audit-ready evidence of policy enforcement. The result is faster AI adoption with stronger security, improved compliance and lower operational overhead.

Powered by the Barracuda IQ™ AI engine, the solution extends protection across more than 1,300 generative AI (GenAI) tools, including Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. It provides a fully integrated approach to AI security and governance:

• AI data protection: Automatically blocks sensitive information such as customer data, passwords, financial records, and proprietary code from reaching GenAI services, with no initial configuration required.
• AI threat detection: Blocks prompt injection, jailbreak attempts, hate speech, and policy violating topics using the Barracuda IQ AI engine's multilayered detection aligned to the OWASP LLM Top 10.
• Compliance ready audit trail: Captures every AI interaction with one-click exports for insurers and auditors.
• Flexible AI policies: Provides tailored rules for teams, tools and data types so businesses can safely say "yes" to AI where it adds value and "no" where it does not.

Purpose Built for Resource-Constrained Businesses and MSPs

Most AI security and governance offerings are designed for large enterprises, leaving smaller businesses and MSPs struggling with unnecessary complexity, specialized skill requirements and prohibitive costs. Barracuda AI Data Security is uniquely engineered for the realities of these underserved businesses, delivering enterprise-grade AI protection and governance through a streamlined, easy-to-manage experience that enables rapid, low-friction AI adoption.

Barracuda AI Data Security is easily deployed in minutes with immediate protection through prebuilt sensitive data detection. It uses familiar firewall style workflows that eliminate the need for specialized AI security expertise and offers guided configuration through Barracuda's Bailey™ AI assistant. MSPs also gain centralized multitenant management and bundled pricing that fits naturally into their service models, enabling them to lead customers through responsible AI adoption with confidence.

Availability

Barracuda AI Data Security will be available in October 2026. It will also be included in Barracuda SecureEdge Premium Access at no additional cost.

Strong Market Demand

"Harnessing the benefits of AI in a safe, responsible and impactful way is a strategic priority for Horizon, but governance and oversight can be challenging and quite complex," said Jake Haacker, Chief Information and Security Officer at Horizon Health Alliance. "We need solutions that make protecting patient and other sensitive data seamless, while ensuring consistent policy enforcement and providing clear guardrails for responsible use. Barracuda AI Data Security will enable us to adopt AI faster and with far less risk, so our teams can stay focused on delivering exceptional care."

"Our customers are already adopting AI and working with us to build AI policies that fit their specific security frameworks with a mindset of quick adoption. But policy only goes so far - both the business and IT need safeguards. We need controls that are simple, scalable and built for real-world environments," said Geoff Turner, Chief Executive Officer at Elevate Technology Group. "Barracuda AI Data Security gives us, as an MSP, a powerful way to help our customers embrace AI securely - with centralized management, strong data protection and clear evidence of compliance. It will enable us to lead customers through responsible and secure AI adoption with peace of mind and real controls protecting their business."

"AI is reshaping the future of how our customers work, and MSPs have a critical role in helping them adopt it responsibly and at scale," said Adam Galfskiy, Head of AI at Aura Technologies. "What stands out about Barracuda AI Data Security is the forward-thinking foundation it gives us - a way to guide customers into an AI-driven future with clarity, control and confidence. The blend of visibility, governance and simplicity will empower organizations to innovate boldly without introducing new risk. It's a pivotal advancement for MSPs and the customers we serve."

About Barracuda
Barracuda is a leading global cybersecurity company delivering complete resilience made easy to buy, deploy and use through a partner-first model. Our intelligent BarracudaONE platform provides cyber resilience across email, data, applications, networks, and managed XDR within an open ecosystem. Trusted by hundreds of thousands of organizations and partners worldwide, Barracuda delivers industry-leading solutions and support, powered by people and enhanced by AI, for all size business.

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