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Report Abuse and Illegal Content – Everything You Need to Know!
Learn how to identify and report online abuse to effectively protect users and services → Find out more now
10 November 20264 min read11 Views0 helpful
Introduction
The internet creates value. Abuse harms users and services. Our goal is to identify and stop incidents quickly. You can report suspected abuse to our Abuse Team. We review every report, preserve evidence, act in accordance with applicable laws and our policies, and notify the relevant authorities when necessary.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
You can report spam, attacks/DDoS, copyright and trademark infringement, phishing, GDPR violations, CSAM/SAM, and other illegal activity such as malware hosting, botnet C2, fraud, or unauthorized crypto mining.
Include the location (URL, IP address, port, hostname, file path, or hash) and a UTC timestamp in the format YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ. Depending on the category, include additional details such as example messages, headers, or sender IP addresses for spam.
We review every report, preserve evidence, act in accordance with applicable laws and our policies, and notify the relevant authorities when necessary.
We have zero tolerance for any material depicting the sexual exploitation of people.
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General
Types of abuse
Abuse can take many forms. Report any case that fits or is similar to one of the following categories:
Spam
Unsolicited or bulk messages sent through our systems or hosted content that trigger spam filters. Variants include email spam, comment spam, SEO link spam, and automated account creation. Please provide example messages, headers, sender IP addresses, and sending patterns.
Attacks and DDoS
Malicious traffic intended to disrupt services or probe systems. Common types include volumetric L3/L4 floods, HTTP Layer 7 floods, amplification, brute-force logins, and aggressive port scans. Signs include spikes in PPS or Mbps, increased 4xx/5xx rates, and repeated authentication failures from changing sources.
Copyright and trademark infringement
Unauthorized distribution of protected works or misuse of registered trademarks. Variants include piracy mirrors, cracked downloads, brand impersonation, and misleading domains. Please provide the work, rights holder, exact location, and authorization status.
Phishing
Content intended to steal login credentials or payment information by impersonating trusted brands. Variants include fake login portals, invoice scams, QR code or attachment lures, and MFA fatigue. Provide the target brand, collection points, and differences from the legitimate site.
GDPR
Unauthorized processing, disclosure, or leakage of personal data. Typical cases include exposed indexes, misconfigured buckets, scraping without a legal basis, and public logs. Describe the data categories, scope, affected individuals, and cause of the disclosure.
CSAM/SAM
Any material depicting the sexual exploitation of people. Zero tolerance.
Illegal content
Content that violates applicable law, such as extremist propaganda, threats, hate speech, incitement to violence, or defamation. Variants include doxxing, explicit threats, and legally prohibited material. Provide the exact location and, if known, the legal basis.
Other
Abuse that does not fit the categories above but still harms users or systems. Examples include malware hosting, botnet C2, fraud, and unauthorized crypto mining. Share hashes, URLs, C2 patterns, and unusual resource usage.
Required information
To make your report complete and actionable, please provide comprehensive details that help us identify the resource, verify the incident, and take the appropriate action, including:
Location: URL, IP address, port, hostname, file path, hash
Timestamps in UTC in the format YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ
Description: What happened, how it was discovered, and observed impact
Evidence: Screenshots, text logs, complete emails with headers in EML format, short PCAPs, NetFlow, HTTP headers
Accepted files and submission
Provide evidence in clear formats that we can access reliably. You can attach smaller files to your email and host larger files externally. Attach small to medium-sized files directly. Prefer open, unmodified formats. Raw text is better than screenshots of text.
For large files, share a stable download link. It should be accessible without interaction or include clear access credentials. State how long the link will be valid. Include checksums to verify integrity.
Use standard formats such as TXT, PDF, PNG, JPG, PCAP or PCAPNG, EML, HAR, CSV, and JSON. Do not include passwords, private keys, or full personal data unless absolutely necessary.
For best results, submit emails as EML files with complete headers, logs as plain text, network traces as short and relevant PCAP or PCAPNG files, and screenshots at their original resolution.
For security, redact all secrets. If necessary, put files in a password-protected archive and share the password separately. For CSAM/SAM, do not submit files; provide links only.
Contact us
Send your report to abuse@zap-hosting.com. Use a clear subject line, such as Abuse Report Phishing or Abuse Report DDoS. Please send one email per incident. The following example shows a complete report:
Code
To: abuse@zap-hosting.com
Subject: Abuse Report Brute Force (SSH)
Location:
- Ziel-IP: XXX.XX.XXX.XX
- Service: SSH
- Port: 22
- Hostname: v12345.zap-hosting.com
Timestamps (UTC):
- Erstmalig gesehen: 2025-08-23T09:12:04Z
- Zuletzt gesehen: 2025-08-23T10:03:31Z
Beschreibung:
"Wiederholte SSH-Login-Versuche mit wechselnden Benutzernamen und Quell-IP-Adressen. Entdeckt durch Anomalien in auth.log und erhöhte Verbindungsrate. Passwort-Authentifizierung nach Entdeckung deaktiviert. Kein erfolgreicher Login beobachtet."
Beweise:
- auth.log-Auszug mit mehreren "Failed password" und "Invalid user"-Einträgen
- fail2ban-Log-Snippet mit Sperren und Quelladressen
- 60-Sekunden-PCAP mit TCP-Versuchen auf Port 22
- Gesamtanzahl: 12.438 Versuche von 352 Quell-IP-Adressen
- Top-Quellen mit ASN-Informationen
Beispiel Log-Auszug:
2025-08-23T09:55:17Z sshd[2173]: Failed password for invalid user admin from XXX.X.XXX.XX port XXXX ssh2
2025-08-23T09:55:18Z sshd[2173]: Failed password for root from XXX.X.XX
What happens next
Our Abuse Team will process your report as quickly as possible and respond promptly. We review the incident and prioritize it based on its severity.
Depending on the outcome of our review, we may notify the customer, temporarily or permanently suspend the service, remove the reported content, preserve evidence, and notify the relevant authorities when necessary.
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