Responsible Email & Network Use

Anti-Spam Policy & Responsible Email Use

Last Updated: May 5, 2026

Customer-Friendly Notice

AwakeHost supports legitimate business email, transactional messages, operational communication, and permission-based newsletters. This policy is designed to help prevent spam, phishing, malware, blacklisting, and other activity that can harm customers, IP reputation, email deliverability, and network reliability.

1. Purpose of This Policy

Email abuse can damage IP reputation, affect inbox delivery, disrupt services, and create risk for other customers using the same network. This policy helps protect customer email deliverability, server reputation, network stability, recipient privacy, and the reliability of AwakeHost services.

By using AwakeHost services, customers agree to use email and messaging systems responsibly and in line with this policy, our Terms of Service, and any applicable laws or regulations.

2. Acceptable Email Use

AwakeHost services may be used for legitimate email activity, including:

• Business communication with customers, users, or subscribers
• Transactional emails such as invoices, account notices, password resets, order confirmations, and support replies
• Newsletters or marketing emails sent only to recipients who have clearly opted in
• Website form notifications, contact form replies, and service updates
• Internal business communication for domains hosted with AwakeHost

All mailing activity should be permission-based. Recipients should know why they are receiving the message and should have a simple way to opt out where required.

3. Consent-Based Mailing Requirements

Customers sending newsletters, announcements, or marketing messages should make sure that:

• Recipients have given clear permission to receive messages
• Mailing lists are not purchased, rented, scraped, harvested, or collected without consent
• Each message clearly identifies the sender
• Marketing emails include a working unsubscribe or opt-out option where required
• Opt-out requests are honored promptly
• The sender’s domain, reply address, and contact details are accurate
• The content of the message is not misleading or deceptive

If a mailing list cannot be verified as permission-based, it should not be used through AwakeHost services.

4. Prohibited Email and Messaging Activity

The following activities are not allowed on AwakeHost services:

• Sending unsolicited bulk email or spam
• Sending marketing emails to purchased, rented, scraped, or harvested lists
• Using misleading subject lines, sender names, reply addresses, or business identities
• Forging, hiding, or modifying email headers to disguise the source of a message
• Sending phishing emails, fake login notices, fraudulent payment requests, or impersonation messages
• Sending malware, harmful links, deceptive attachments, or malicious scripts
• Running open mail relays, open proxies, or insecure mail services that can be abused by others
• Using AwakeHost services to advertise or promote websites hosted elsewhere through unsolicited email
• Using third-party email platforms to send spam that promotes a domain, website, or service hosted by AwakeHost
• Sending repeated messages to recipients who have unsubscribed or asked not to be contacted
• Using automated messaging, social media direct messages, contact forms, forums, or comment sections for unsolicited promotion
• Creating accounts, websites, landing pages, or redirects intended mainly for spam, phishing, or deceptive campaigns

This list is not exhaustive. Activity that creates abuse reports, blacklisting risk, network harm, legal risk, or reputation damage may be treated as a policy violation.

5. Bulk Email, Newsletters, and Marketing Campaigns

Shared hosting and VPS services are not designed for high-volume unsolicited or unverified email campaigns. Customers who need to send large newsletters or marketing campaigns should use a reputable email marketing or transactional email provider with proper authentication, bounce handling, unsubscribe management, and compliance controls.

For better deliverability, customers should configure:

• SPF
• DKIM
• DMARC
• Valid reverse DNS where applicable
• A monitored abuse or contact address
• Proper bounce processing
• Clean, opt-in mailing lists

AwakeHost may ask customers to reduce, pause, or move bulk email activity to a dedicated email delivery provider if the activity causes complaints, blacklist listings, high bounce rates, or network reputation issues.

6. SMTP and Port 25 Use

Some hosting and VPS locations may have outbound SMTP restrictions, including limitations on Port 25. These restrictions may be applied by AwakeHost or by upstream network providers to protect IP reputation and reduce spam abuse.

Where Port 25 is restricted, customers may still be able to use authenticated email delivery through approved SMTP ports such as 465, 587, or a third-party transactional email provider, depending on the service and configuration.

AwakeHost may review SMTP access requests based on account history, service type, intended use, abuse risk, and compliance with this policy. SMTP access is not guaranteed for every service, location, or customer account.

7. Customer Responsibilities

Customers are responsible for the activity generated from their hosting account, VPS, website, scripts, email accounts, applications, and users.

Customers should take reasonable steps to prevent email abuse, including:

• Keeping CMS software, plugins, themes, and scripts updated
• Using strong passwords and secure email credentials
• Removing compromised mailboxes, scripts, or contact forms
• Securing web forms with CAPTCHA or anti-bot protection
• Monitoring mail queues and bounce rates
• Removing inactive or unverified subscribers from mailing lists
• Avoiding nulled themes, cracked plugins, or untrusted scripts
• Responding promptly to abuse or security notices from AwakeHost

If a website, mailbox, script, or VPS is compromised and used to send spam, the customer remains responsible for helping resolve the issue.

8. Abuse Reports and Review Process

When AwakeHost receives a spam, phishing, malware, or abuse report, our team may review the affected service, logs, headers, domain, IP address, or related account activity.

Depending on the situation, AwakeHost may take one or more of the following actions:

• Notify the customer and request corrective action
• Temporarily restrict email sending
• Pause or limit SMTP access
• Suspend the affected mailbox, website, VPS, or service
• Remove or disable harmful content
• Require security cleanup before reactivation
• Request proof of mailing list consent
• Escalate serious abuse to the relevant network, registrar, payment, or legal authority
• Terminate services in cases of serious, repeated, or intentional abuse

Where practical, AwakeHost will try to give customers an opportunity to fix the issue. However, immediate action may be required when activity creates urgent risk, such as phishing, malware, large-scale spam, blacklisting, fraud, or harm to other customers.

9. Network and Infrastructure Partner Compliance

AwakeHost services may operate through data centers, cloud infrastructure, network carriers, registrars, software vendors, and other service partners. Customers must also comply with the acceptable use, anti-spam, network abuse, security, and email policies that apply to the underlying infrastructure.

If an upstream provider, data center, registrar, or network partner flags a service for spam, phishing, malware, abuse, or network harm, AwakeHost may be required to restrict, suspend, migrate, or terminate the affected service to protect the wider network.

10. Examples of High-Risk Activity

The following activity may lead to review or restriction:

• High-volume email from a new or unverified account
• A large number of bounced messages
• Spam complaints from recipients or anti-abuse organizations
• Blacklisting of an AwakeHost IP address or domain
• Phishing pages, fake login forms, or credential collection
• Malware distribution or suspicious redirects
• Compromised WordPress, CMS, or mail scripts
• Open relay or insecure mail server configuration
• Spoofed sender identity or forged email headers
• Repeated abuse after previous notices

11. How to Report Spam or Abuse

If you receive spam, phishing, malware, or abusive content connected to an AwakeHost service, please report it to our abuse team.

To help us investigate faster, please include as much information as possible, such as:

• Full email headers
• The sender email address
• The domain or URL involved
• The IP address, if available
• Screenshots or logs
• A short explanation of the issue

We review abuse reports carefully and take action where appropriate.

12. Policy Updates

AwakeHost may update this Anti-Spam Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, infrastructure, legal requirements, network standards, or abuse-prevention practices. The latest version published on this page will apply to continued use of AwakeHost services.