My server has been blocked by Abuse. What do I do?
Generally the abuse department will not block your server unless one of the following conditions has been met:
1) Disregarded ticket
2) Failure to resolve ticket even though you have acknowledged the ticket
3) We are required by law to block it (IE: child exploitation or terrorist content)
4) Repeat offense of same issue (IE: phishing page)
5) Violation of Local, State or Federal law requiring immediate takedown
6) Causing disruptions to other customers
(Please note, this list is not a comprehensive list and does not cover all situations, this is merely an example of criteria for blocking.)
If you server has been blocked by the Abuse department the first thing that you should do is update the ticket and let abuse know that you are looking into the issue. Most of the time simply resolving the issue (ie: removing infringing content for a DMCA, etc) is enough to warrant the IP being unblocked. The abuse department is always willing to work with our customers unless the issue is outside the scope of our support. An example of a situation where abuse cannot assist you is if your server has been compromised (hacked) and is causing outbound malicious activity. This would fall outside of our scope and we would refer you to one of our third-party management companies found on either our main website or our forums.
The ultimate goal of SoftLayer is to balance the rights and interest of our Customers in the highly evolving internet world. SoftLayer understands the challenges of hosting companies, resellers, businesses, organizations and other customers who may have third party violations occur due to the nature of their business. The goal of our Methods of Resolution is to mitigate service interruptions while resolving potential violations under this AUP. Our sales, support and abuse staffs are dedicated to working with the Customer in resolving potential violations, and are available via phone or email.
