What is an abuse report?
An abuse report is a notification of suspected misuse or unauthorized use of our servers and services. Examples of misuse:
- Sending spam (e-mail, SMS, etc.)
- Hosting of malicious software (malware, phishing)
- Brute force attacks or DDoS attacks
- Copyright infringements or illegal content
- Hosting of fake websites or fraudulent sites (phishing, identity theft, etc.)
How do we proceed with an abuse report?
Our procedure for reported abuse activity comprises three escalation levels that take into account the severity and frequency.
Stage 1: First abuse report
- The affected server will be temporarily blocked.
- The customer will be informed immediately by e-mail and requested to submit a written statement on the cause and the planned measures.
- Blacklist removal:
- We take care of removing the IP address from the blacklist.
- As soon as the blacklist removal has been completed and we have received the customer's statement, the server will be unblocked.
Level 2: Repeated abuse reports
- In the event of another incident, the affected server will be blocked immediately.
- The customer must independently take measures to remove the server from blacklists and provide evidence of this, as well as submit a statement on the cause and planned measures.
- Additional restrictions such as port blocking or reinstalling the server can be implemented.
- The server is only unlocked again once all the requirements from point 2 have been met.
Level 3: Serious or persistent violations
- In the event of repeated or serious cases of misuse, we reserve the right to permanently block the ports concerned or to impose a complete network block.
- In extreme cases, the contractual relationship may be terminated.
- If a customer has several servers and receives abuse messages distributed across all servers, we reserve the right to block all affected servers if a certain number of incidents occur.
Your responsibility as a customer
- Make sure that your applications and systems are regularly checked for vulnerabilities.
- Always keep your software (e.g. CMS, plugins, operating systems) up to date.
- Monitor your server for suspicious activities.
- Respond quickly and cooperatively to abuse reports to avoid further escalation.
How can you report abuse?
We take abuse reports from third parties very seriously. Please make sure that your report contains the following information:
- Description of the abusive activity (e.g. spam emails, attacks)
- Date and time (with time zone) of the activity
- IP address or domain involved
- Evidence (e.g. log files, email headers)
If you would like to submit a general abuse report, please use our Abuse-Formular or send an e-mail to: abuse@exception-host.com. For abuse reports under the Digital Services Act (DSA), you can contact us at the following email: dsa@exception-host.com. For content or activities covered by the TCO Regulation, please use: tco@exception-host.com (contact requests are possible in German and English).
