Abuse Policy

This page explains how to report abuse that involves a service or IP address on our network, AS218805, and how we deal with reports. It also covers what we can and cannot do.

What counts as abuse

Anything that breaks our Acceptable Use Policy. The most common reports are about spam, phishing, malware, attacks and scanning, copyright, and illegal content. If you are not sure whether something counts, report it anyway.

How to report

To report abuse, email abuse@stacklayer.host or submit a support ticket through our client area. Write in English and send one report for each issue. Reports that are vague or cover many unrelated problems take longer to deal with.

What to include

The more detail you give, the quicker we can act. Please include:

• the IP address, domain name or URL involved
• the date and time of the activity, with the time zone
• logs that show the activity, or for spam the full message with all headers
• a clear description of what happened and why you think it is abuse
• your name and contact details, so we can ask for more if we need it

Do not send us large attachments or links to files we have to download from unknown sites. Paste logs into the ticket instead.

What we do with a report

1. We read the report and check whether it concerns an address or service on our network. 2. We look at the evidence and decide whether it breaks our policies. 3. If it does, we contact the customer and require them to stop and put it right. 4. If they do not, or the problem is serious, we restrict, suspend or end the service. 5. We may tell you when it has been dealt with. We cannot always share what we did, because it can involve a customer's private information.

We act as fast as we reasonably can. Reports involving harm to people, or attacks that are still happening, come first. We do not promise a fixed response time.

Illegal content

If you find child sexual abuse material, report it to the Internet Watch Foundation at iwf.org.uk as well as to us. We remove access to it and report it to the authorities.

For other content you believe is illegal, we may need a court order or a valid request from the police or another authority before taking some kinds of action. We are not able to decide disputes between people, such as whether a statement is defamatory.

Spam and phishing

Send the whole message with its full headers. For phishing, send the web address of the page, and a screenshot if you can. Please do not send spam back to us as an attachment that changes the headers.

Attacks, scanning and break-in attempts

Send log extracts showing the source address, what was targeted, the time with time zone, and the type of traffic. Say whether the activity is still going on so we can prioritise it.

Copyright complaints

If you think material on our network infringes your copyright, tell us who you are, what the work is, where the material is, and confirm that you own the rights or act for the owner. We may pass the complaint to the customer. This page is not legal advice.

Requests from law enforcement

We respond to valid legal requests from the police and other authorities. Send them through a support ticket. In an emergency where someone's safety is at risk, say so clearly at the start of your report.

What we cannot do

We can only act on services and addresses on our network. If the problem is on another network, contact the abuse team of that network. We cannot remove content from other companies' servers, and we cannot act on a report about a service that is not ours.

How we handle your report

We may give your report, including your contact details, to the customer concerned so they can sort out the problem. If you do not want us to, say so in your report. We handle personal data as set out in our Privacy Policy.

We may disregard reports that are incomplete, repeated or made in bad faith.

Repeated abuse

A customer who is the subject of repeated valid reports may have their service ended, even if each problem was fixed at the time.

If you are our customer

If we contact you about a report, reply quickly and tell us what you have done to fix it. If you do not reply, we may suspend your service.