The term “abuse” in our context refers to a broad range of behaviors where a
website/hosting space is incorrectly or unlawfully utilized to hurt another person or their
property.
Types of Abuse
Below are some of the abuse cases.
- Phishing- It’s a type of Cybersecurity assault where bad actors send messages posing as
a reliable individual or organization. Email is typically used for this. The intention is to
steal personal information like credit card numbers and login credentials or to infect the
victim’s computer with malware. - Spamming – The practice of sending many unsolicited messages/emails to a large
number of recipients - Copyright infringement- This is a form of intellectual theft where you use someone’s
picture, logo, music, video and etc. on your site without their consent. - Trademark infringement- It’s the unauthorized use of trademarked intellectual
property like company name without the proper permission from the company. - Malware- This is distributing malware to other websites through your website.
- Child abuse material- This is using your site to promote exploitation of children
- Pornographic content – We do not allow this kind of content to be hosted on our
servers. - And any other issue considered as abusive. We reserve the right to determine if
the case is abuse
Abuse Cases Handling
Abuse cases are treated with high and special attention due to rising Cyber Security
Concerns, and the possible damage that they can be caused. Abuse Cases at Truehost Cloud
are ONLY handled by the abuse team.
The Truehost Support Team are a different team from the abuse team and thus has no
access to Accounts that that have abuse cases. The Support Team, therefore, will NOT handle
abuse cases, instead, they will refer you to the abuse team for any advise regarding such
accounts.
The abuse team is only contacted via their email which is [email protected] and they
will only give a response via that email.
Detection & Investigation of Abuse Cases
Abuse cases are usually detected either by the Truehost or our Partners’ systems. Every
abuse case is usually subjected to an investigation to determine its scale, impact, source, and
perpetrators. Some of these investigations are conducted in partnership with Cyber Security
experts such as
• expedited Netcraft – https://www.netcraft.com/
• Cloudflare – https://www.cloudflare.com
• OVH – https://www.ovh.com
• BrandProtect – http://www.brandprotect.com/
• Phishlabs – https://www.phishlabs.com/
• Risk IQ – https://www.riskiq.com/
• Law enforcement bodies.
• Truehost Cloud Cyber Security Team
Resolving Abuse cases
Truehost Cloud is committed to hasten abuse cases resolutions. However, depending on the
cases’ scale, impact, source and perpetrators, the case may take more than 7 days to resolve.
During this time the affected service will be terminated.
The resolution process starts with an investigation to determine the nature of the abuse and
ends when the issue is resolved.
Possible Resolutions
Abuse cases are resolved to any of the following outcomes: –
• Restoration of service to allow fixing (Service is restored to allow the client to fix the
issue that caused the abuse – applies to minor abuse cases only).
• Account Termination with file downloads (Client is banned from hosting the affected
service but receives a download link to download the files).
• Account Termination with no files (Client is banned from hosting the affected service
with no file recovery option).
The decision on the action to be taken will be informed by the nature of the abuse
case, and will be decided by the abuse team.
How to avoid Abuse Cases?
- Do not use nulled scripts.
- Keep your CMS installations like WordPress up to date.
- Always use very strong password.
- Use an antivirus on any PC that runs Outlook or any other mail client.
- Download images and other files from legit sites.
- Avoid copyright infringing materials such as ebooks, videos, music files, images etc.
Reporting Abuse Cases
For any abuse case, you can report it via [email protected] and you will be required to
list the domain name with the case, the type of abuse they have committed and as much
evidence as possible to prove the abuse.
Frequently Asked Questions - Do all abuse cases result in legal implications?
No. Abuse cases that result in legal implications are those that are linked to Cybercrime. Most
abuse cases are due to compromised websites email accounts which only require to be fixed
and prevented from recurring. - Can I reach to abuse team via call/chat/WhatsApp?
No. The abuse team can only be reached via email or ticket to the abuse
department([email protected]). Abuse team is not reachable via any other means. - How long does it take to have an abuse issue resolved?
Abuse cases take between an hour to 7 days to resolve. Please refer to the section for
“Resolving Abuse Cases”. - What constitutes abuse of service?
Please refer to https://truehost.cloud/acceptable-usage-policy/ - What do I do when my account is suspended/terminated for abuse?
When this happens, please reach out to the abuse team through their email, and they will
advise on whether they can grant you access to the files to fix them. You will share the steps
you will take to fix the issue. Once given access, make sure you fix the issue before re-
uploading the files. Recurrence of the abuse issue may lead to permanent termination.
- Can I get a backup of my data?
Not all abuse cases/instances can be provided with data. There are situations where you will
get a backup of the service, other situations you will be provided with limited access to back
up your data while in other cases, all the data is deleted and no backup is available. - What if it was not deliberate?
All abuse cases, whether deliberate or not, are treated the same way since they have the same
effects. - Are there any legal implications to abuse cases?
Yes, law enforcement agencies are always vigilant for abuse cases and their impact. These
agencies have prosecuted some of the abuse cases that amount to Cyber Crime. - Do I get refund?
No, we do not refund once a service is deactivated. This includes deactivated services that
had not been used and have been deactivated due to abuse. - When I first seek your permission before hosting a phishing account, will you still
terminate it?
We do not host phishing accounts and we will decline such a request. If we find a phishing
account or an account involved in any other form of abuse, we will be forced to terminate the
account, unfortunately. - What is the possible damage that an abuse account can cause on a server?
One abuse case on a server will affect all the remaining accounts in a way. Spamming will
contaminate the server IP thus all users of the IP will be affected. Phishing risks shutdown of
the entire server. A single abuse case if not handled, will lead to close down of the entire
server with all accounts on it, whether they are abuse accounts or not. That is why we need
to act with speed to remove one abuse account to prevent mass inconveniences.
