Abuse Types and How to Report them
Abuse is the misuse of domains or web services for malicious, deceptive, unauthorized, or unintended purposes. Web services can be misused by violating a provider's requirements, violating an individual’s privacy, infringing upon intellectual properties, manipulating the Domain Name System, or illegal activity.
Abuse Types
DNS Abuse
Registries and Registrars promote DNS safety by disrupting abuse of the Domain Name System. DNS Abuse is categorized into the five types.
Phishing | Phishing is the process of using web services to improperly obtain login credentials, financial information, contact details, or other sensitive data. Phishing may also be a mechanism to trick users into downloading malware. Phishing is generally a two-step process of delivery through email, text messages, forums, or other communication platforms and acquiring the sensitive information through a webform, often designed to pass as an authentic, trustworthy provider. |
|---|---|
Malware | Malware is any malicious software. The term is often used to encompass any software program that is designed to damage or do other unwanted actions on a computer system. Common examples are viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and spyware. |
Botnets | Botnets are a network of infected computers under the control of a remote administrator without the authorization of the computers’ owners. |
Pharming | Pharming is the process of modifying DNS entries in order to redirect a user’s requested web resource to an alternate resource provided by a malicious actor. This is generally set up through DNS hijacking with malware redirecting victims to a malicious resource or DNS poisoning which causes a DNS server to respond with a false IP address bearing malicious code. |
Spamming | Spamming is only considered DNS Abuse when it is used as a delivery mechanism for another form of DNS Abuse. Spamming is sending unsolicited commercial email. Unlike regular email marketing messages, spam doesn’t give clear instructions for opting out as a recipient to prevent future emails. If the spam email also contains a malicious URL or file, it is considered DNS Abuse. |
Non-Compliance
Whois Inaccuracy, Registry and Third-Party Provider Requirements | WHOIS is a publicly available directory containing information about registered gTLDs including contact information for the registrant or registrar. ICANN requires all contracted registrars to comply with WHOIS compliance. Similarly, many ccTLDs have WHOIS databases in which accurate information regarding the registrant and other contacts may be required. A domain name registration is considered noncompliant when the contact information is false, incomplete, or outdated. Registries and service providers may dictate requirements that 101domain must uphold. You may receive a notice of legal inquiry if a registry or other service provider finds their requirements aren’t being met. Generally, Non-compliance and legal inquiries of this nature are resolved by updates and verification. Registries may have unique requirements according to their own specifications, however. |
|---|
Content Abuse
Unauthorized use of Information and Privacy Violations | Unauthorized use of information is when an individual’s personal identifiable information is posted without their legal consent. This abuse generally occurs when a web page displays an individual’s personal information without their permission. Personal information may refer to contact information, photographs, addresses, and phone numbers. |
|---|---|
Copyright | Copyright is an intellectual property right that secures the original expression in a fixed medium of an idea. Copyright can be registered with the US Copyright office, but is not necessary to protect an author’s work. |
Trademark | Trademarks are rights in intellectual property a person can secure through use in commerce. Owners can also register their trademarks with the USPTO. Trademarks are used as identifiers of the source of a good or service. |
Illegal Activity
Illegal activity refers to violations of United States and European Union laws and regulations. If you feel a crime is being committed against you or a domain is involved in illegal activity, please contact your local law enforcement office for further guidance. All complaints about illegal activity must be sent to the appropriate national authority. The registrar will take action on the relevant domain or web service upon direction from the national authority.
Internet Crimes | If you have been a victim of an internet crime, please report the situation to your national authority. Please contact your local law enforcement office to identify the correct authority in your region. USA: Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) https://complaint.ic3.gov/default.aspx UK: Action Fraud https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/ |
|---|---|
Child Abuse & Exploitation | All complaints about child abuse & exploitation, including illegal pornography involving a minor, must be sent to the appropriate national authority. The registrar will take action on the relevant domain upon direction from the national authority. Please contact your local law enforcement office to identify the correct authority in your region. USA: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) http://www.missingkids.org/ NCMEC CyberTipline: https://report.cybertip.org/reporting UK: Internet Watch Foundation (WF) https://www.iwf.org.uk/ |
Who to Report Abuse to
A standard best practice is to review a website for contact information and to try to inform the Site Operator of abuse activity or content. Many websites have an Abuse team or protocol to remove or disable abuse. It is often most expedient to contact them directly. Please note that a Site Operator may differ from the Domain Registrant and if a Site Operator is non-responsive to your report, the registrant is the appropriate next contact.
The Hosting Provider is the best contact to report content-related abuse found on a website when the Site Operator is non-responsive or likely a bad actor. Web hosts are able to remove specific pages and files of a website that are infringing on intellectual property or violating an individual’s privacy. Similarly, the email provider may be contacted if the abusive activity involves emails.
When the Site Operator and web service providers are unable or unwilling to assist with confirmed abuse, we encourage you to report the abuse using the provided webform.
How to Report Abuse to 101domain
Visit the Report Abuse Webform found at https://www.101domain.com/report_abuse.htm.
You can make the following generalizations when selecting the appropriate category from the “Choose a topic” drop down menu:
Spam and Phishing - for DNS Abuse
Copyright/Trademark - for Intellectual Property Abuse
Illegal Activities - for Rogue Pharmacies, Child Exploitation, etc.
Other Clams - If your complaint doesn’t fit under the previous categories
Investigations of Abuse
We appreciate your business with 101domain and may be notified of abuse being detected in relation to domain or hosting services we are providing you. Please respond promptly to the Legal/Abuse ticket found in your 101domain Support Center for the most secure, reliable delivery and correspondence. We take our abuse investigations very seriously and swift action may be necessary. Maintaining your account with current contact information is paramount to avoiding interruptions of service.