1. Purpose and Application

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") sets out the rules for using services supplied by Hostbyte Pty Ltd, ABN 57 662 923 926 and ACN 662 923 926 ("Hostbyte", "we", "us" or "our"). It applies to all customers, authorised users and anyone who uses or accesses a Service through a Customer account.

This AUP forms part of the Hostbyte Pty Ltd Terms of Service. It is intended to protect customers, other users, our systems, upstream providers and the security, stability and reputation of the networks and services on which Hostbyte relies.

2. General Standard of Use

Customers must use the Services lawfully, responsibly and in a way that does not materially interfere with the rights of others, the operation of our systems, or the security, stability or reputation of Hostbyte or its suppliers.

Customers are responsible for activity occurring through their accounts, websites, applications, mailboxes, credentials and Services, including activity by authorised users. A Customer is not treated as having intentionally caused an incident merely because an account or website has been compromised; however, reasonable protective or remediation action may still be required.

3. Illegal, Harmful and Prohibited Content

The Services must not be used to create, host, store, publish, distribute, facilitate or knowingly link to material where doing so is unlawful or where the material is prohibited by applicable law or a lawful direction.

• child sexual exploitation or abuse material, or other material prohibited under applicable online-safety law;
• material that unlawfully promotes, instructs or facilitates terrorism, serious violence or other criminal activity;
• unlawful threats, harassment, stalking, extortion or intimidation;
• material that unlawfully infringes copyright, trade marks, privacy, confidentiality or other third-party rights;
• fraudulent, deceptive or impersonation content used to obtain money, credentials, personal information or other benefit; or
• other content that Hostbyte is legally required to remove, disable or restrict.

Where content may be lawful in one jurisdiction but unlawful in another, the Customer remains responsible for laws applicable to its own content and activities. Hostbyte may take action where required by Australian law or other law that validly applies to Hostbyte.

4. Malware, Phishing and Credential Theft

The Services must not be used to create, host, distribute or facilitate malware, ransomware, spyware, malicious code, phishing pages, credential-harvesting systems, fraudulent login pages or other mechanisms intended to compromise devices, accounts or information.

Customers must not knowingly maintain compromised files, scripts, applications or websites after becoming aware of them or after receiving a reasonable remediation request from Hostbyte.

5. Unauthorised Access and Network Abuse

The Services must not be used to gain or attempt to gain unauthorised access to systems, accounts, networks or data, or to interfere with the normal operation of another system or service.

• password cracking, credential stuffing or unauthorised vulnerability exploitation;
• port scanning, probing or security testing of third-party systems without permission;
• denial-of-service or distributed denial-of-service attacks;
• packet flooding, spoofing or deliberate network disruption;
• operating botnets or command-and-control infrastructure; or
• circumventing authentication, access controls, usage restrictions or security measures without authority.

Legitimate security testing is permitted where the Customer owns the relevant system or has clear authority to test it and the activity does not materially affect Hostbyte infrastructure or other customers.

6. Spam and Electronic Messaging

Customers must not use the Services to send spam, phishing messages, unsolicited bulk electronic messages or other communications prohibited by law or the Hostbyte Anti-Spam Policy.

Detailed rules for consent, sender identification, unsubscribe facilities, mailing lists, compromised mailboxes, email sending controls and mail-system reputation are contained in the Anti-Spam Policy.

Hostbyte may apply or adjust sending limits, rate limits and other mail controls where reasonably necessary to protect deliverability, security, system stability or IP and domain reputation. Remaining below a technical sending limit does not mean that sending activity complies with this AUP or the Anti-Spam Policy.

7. Security and Compromised Services

Customers must take reasonable steps to secure their Services, including keeping supported software reasonably current, using appropriate passwords and authentication controls, restricting unnecessary administrative access and responding to security notices.

Where Hostbyte reasonably believes a website, mailbox, account, credential or Service has been compromised or presents a material security risk, we may take reasonable and proportionate protective action.

This may include restricting access, disabling outgoing email, applying rate limits, resetting credentials, blocking malicious traffic, quarantining malicious files, disabling vulnerable scripts or temporarily suspending the affected Service.

Where immediate action is reasonably necessary to contain a material risk, Hostbyte may act before giving notice and will notify the Customer as soon as reasonably practicable.

8. Shared Hosting and Resource Usage

Shared hosting and other shared platforms operate within finite CPU, memory, storage, database, process, network and other resources. Customers must not use a shared Service in a way that materially degrades performance or availability for other customers or threatens platform stability.

Examples may include sustained excessive processor or memory use, runaway scripts, unusually intensive database activity, excessive concurrent processes, excessive automated requests, or other workloads that are unsuitable for the Service purchased.

Hostbyte may apply reasonable technical controls, request remediation, temporarily limit resource consumption or recommend migration to a more suitable Service. Where practical, we will work with the Customer to resolve legitimate high usage rather than treating ordinary growth as abuse.

9. Storage, Files and Backup Repositories

Hosting Services must not be used primarily as a general-purpose file dump, public download mirror, peer-to-peer distribution service or backup repository unless the relevant Service expressly permits that use.

Website files, databases, email and other stored material should be reasonably connected with the purpose of the Service purchased. Separate backup or storage products may have different permitted uses stated in their service descriptions.

10. Copyright and Third-Party Rights

Customers must respect copyright, trade marks and other intellectual-property rights. Hostbyte may investigate properly supported complaints and may remove, disable or restrict access to material where reasonably necessary to comply with law, a court order, an applicable industry obligation or a valid requirement from an upstream provider.

Customers should provide sufficient information when disputing a complaint or demonstrating their authority to use the material. Hostbyte does not determine private intellectual-property disputes where no action is legally or operationally required.

11. Domains and DNS

Customers must not use domain names, DNS services or related Services for phishing, malware, fraud, impersonation, command-and-control activity or other prohibited conduct.

For .au domain names, Customers must comply with the applicable .au Domain Administration (auDA) licensing rules and policies, as amended from time to time, together with applicable registrar and registrant terms. Customers are responsible for maintaining accurate registrant information and ongoing eligibility for their domain licence.

12. Resale and Customer Users

Where a Customer resells, provides or permits others to use a Service, the Customer must take reasonable steps to ensure those users comply with this AUP. The Customer remains responsible for managing its account and responding to abuse or security issues associated with the Service.

Hostbyte may contact the Customer about activity by an end user and may require reasonable action to stop or remediate a breach.

13. Investigating Suspected Abuse

Hostbyte may investigate suspected breaches using information reasonably available to us, including system logs, security alerts, network information, abuse reports and technical indicators.

We do not claim a general right to read private Customer communications. Access to Customer content will be limited to circumstances where it is reasonably necessary to provide requested support, investigate or contain a security or abuse incident, comply with law, or where otherwise authorised.

Customers must reasonably cooperate with investigations and remediation, including securing compromised credentials, updating vulnerable software, removing malicious content or explaining activity that has generated a credible abuse report.

14. Enforcement and Protective Action

Hostbyte will have regard to the nature, seriousness, urgency and impact of an issue when deciding what action to take. Where appropriate, we may issue a warning or remediation request before restricting a Service.

For serious or urgent matters, Hostbyte may immediately restrict, isolate or suspend an affected Service where delay would reasonably create or prolong a material security, legal, network, deliverability, fraud, reputation or operational risk.

Action may include blocking traffic, disabling a script or application, quarantining malicious files, disabling outgoing email, applying rate limits, suspending a mailbox or website, resetting credentials, restricting access or suspending the affected Service.

Where a breach is serious, repeated, unlawful, cannot reasonably be remedied, or the Customer fails to cooperate with reasonable remediation, Hostbyte may terminate the affected Service in accordance with the Terms of Service and applicable law.

15. Reporting Abuse

Customers and third parties may report suspected abuse to Hostbyte. Reports should include enough information for us to identify the affected Service and understand the issue, such as the relevant domain, IP address, URL, email headers, timestamps, logs or other supporting information where available.

We may request additional information where reasonably necessary to assess a report. Knowingly false or abusive complaints may themselves constitute misuse of our support or abuse processes.

16. Changes to this Policy

Hostbyte may update this AUP to reflect changes in law, regulation, security threats, technology, supplier requirements or reasonable operational practices.

The current version will be published through the Hostbyte website or client portal with a version or last-updated date. Material changes affecting existing Customers will be notified where required or reasonably practicable, in accordance with the Terms of Service.

17. Contact

Questions or abuse reports relating to this policy may be directed to Hostbyte using the contact details below.