Acceptable Use Policy

1. Scope

This Acceptable Use Policy applies to all HostSteps infrastructure, hosting, cloud, communications, managed and software-enabled services and to all users, applications, domains and workloads operated through them.

2. Lawful Use

Services may not be used to violate applicable law, court orders, sanctions, intellectual-property rights, privacy rights or legally binding third-party obligations.

3. Security Abuse

Prohibited activity includes malware distribution, ransomware, credential theft, phishing, unauthorized scanning or exploitation, botnet command and control, denial-of-service attacks, unauthorized interception, attempts to bypass access controls and knowingly maintaining compromised systems without reasonable remediation.

4. Messaging and Spam

Unsolicited bulk messaging, address harvesting, deceptive messaging, forged headers, spam campaigns and messaging that violates applicable anti-spam or provider rules are prohibited. Customers operating legitimate bulk messaging must maintain consent, suppression and complaint-handling processes appropriate to the channel.

5. Network and Resource Abuse

Customers may not intentionally degrade shared infrastructure, evade technical limits, generate abusive traffic, operate open relays or proxies for abuse, or consume resources in a manner that materially harms other customers or providers.

6. Harmful or Prohibited Content

Content or services that facilitate fraud, exploitation, credible threats, unlawful trafficking, malicious software or other unlawful conduct are prohibited. HostSteps may act on content where legally required or where it creates a material infrastructure or safety risk.

7. Intellectual Property

Customers must have the rights necessary to host, distribute or use content and software. Valid infringement notices may be investigated and acted upon in accordance with applicable law and HostSteps procedures.

8. Enforcement

HostSteps may investigate, rate-limit, filter, quarantine, disable affected components, require remediation, suspend or terminate services depending on severity, recurrence, legal requirements and risk. Immediate action may be taken where delay could cause material harm.

9. Customer Cooperation

Customers must maintain reasonable security, respond to verified abuse notices, preserve relevant evidence when requested lawfully and remediate compromised systems within a reasonable timeframe.

10. Reporting

Suspected abuse should be reported through HostSteps' designated abuse or support channel with sufficient evidence for investigation.