Purpose
This policy explains what you may not do with Rackyard services. It protects our network, our other customers and the wider internet. It forms part of our Terms of Service and applies to every service, whoever is using it.
Most customers will never need to think about it. If you are unsure whether something is allowed, ask us before you do it.
What is not allowed
Illegal and harmful content
- Hosting, sending or linking to content that is illegal in India, or illegal where it is aimed.
- Child sexual abuse material. We have zero tolerance. Any service involved is terminated immediately without notice or refund, and we report it to the relevant authorities.
- Content promoting terrorism or violent extremism.
- Harassment, threats, stalking, or publishing someone’s private information without consent (doxxing).
- Infringing copyright, trademarks or other intellectual property rights, including pirated software, warez and unlicensed streaming or IPTV restreaming. See our Copyright and Takedown Policy.
- Unlicensed gambling, and the sale of goods or services that are illegal in India.
Malicious software and fraud
- Distributing malware, ransomware or spyware.
- Phishing, fake login pages, or impersonating another person or organisation to deceive people.
- Carding, stolen data marketplaces, or tools built for fraud or identity theft.
- Running or controlling botnets, or command-and-control servers for them.
- Sending spam or bulk unsolicited email, mailing purchased lists, or emailing lists whose recipients did not clearly agree to receive it.
- Forging sender addresses or headers.
- Hosting websites or services advertised through spam sent from anywhere.
To protect our addresses’ reputation, outbound email on port 25 is blocked on new accounts. If you need to send email directly from your server, ask us and we will open it for accounts in good standing.
Network abuse
- Attacking, or attempting to gain unauthorised access to, any system or network.
- Scanning networks or systems you do not own or have written permission to test. Authorised security testing of your own systems is fine.
- Launching or taking part in denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, or running stresser or booter services.
- Brute-forcing logins on other people’s systems.
- Forging packet headers or source addresses (IP spoofing), or announcing address space that is not yours.
- Running open proxies, open mail relays or open DNS resolvers that are not secured against misuse by others.
What is allowed, with care
Customers often ask about these. They are allowed, on the conditions given:
- VPNs and proxies for you, your team or your own customers, as long as they require authentication. You remain responsible for what is done through them.
- Tor relays (middle and bridge relays). Tor exit nodes need our written approval first, because exit traffic draws abuse complaints to the address.
- BitTorrent and other file sharing of content you have the right to share. Repeated copyright complaints lead to termination.
- Game servers, bots and scrapers, provided scrapers respect the sites they visit and do not overload them.
- Reselling our services, provided you have your own acceptable use terms, as described below.
Cryptocurrency mining
- Mining cryptocurrency is not permitted on shared VPS plans, because it saturates CPU that is shared with other customers.
- On VDS plans, mining is allowed only if it stays within your plan’s dedicated resources and does not affect shared storage, the network or other customers.
Keeping your server secure
You have root access, so the security of your server is in your hands. Keep its software updated, use strong passwords or keys, and run a firewall. A compromised server that is attacking others or sending spam will be suspended to stop the harm, even if you did not cause it. We will tell you what we saw and restore access so you can clean it up or reinstall.
Your users
If you let other people use your server, for example by reselling hosting, running a game server or offering accounts, you are responsible for what they do on it. You should have your own acceptable use terms and act on abuse reports about your users promptly.
How we enforce this policy
When we receive a report or detect a problem, we investigate it. We may need to look at network traffic or, where necessary, at the service involved. We do not otherwise inspect the contents of your server.
In most cases we forward the report to you and ask you to reply within 24 hours, saying what you have done or why the report is wrong. If you do not reply, or the problem continues, we may suspend the service. If the abuse is serious or ongoing, such as an active attack, malware distribution, phishing, or anything putting people or our network at risk, we suspend first and contact you straight afterwards. Repeated or severe breaches lead to termination under our Terms of Service.
A service suspended or terminated for abuse is not eligible for a refund, as set out in our Refund and Cancellation Policy.
Reporting abuse
To report abuse coming from our network, email support@rackyard.cloud. Please include the IP address or domain involved, the date and time (with time zone), and any evidence such as log extracts or message headers. We acknowledge reports within 24 hours and review every one, though we may not be able to tell you what action we took. For copyright complaints, follow our Copyright and Takedown Policy.
Cooperation with authorities
We cooperate with law enforcement and other authorities when we receive a valid, lawful request, and we report cyber security incidents to CERT-In as Indian law requires. We review each request, and we disclose only what the law requires. Where we are allowed to, we tell the affected customer.