Acceptable Use Policy.

Purpose of This Policy

This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") explains how Kitwick services may and may not be used.

It applies to all customers using Kitwick's hosting, WordPress hosting, email, domain, server, storage, website migration and other related services.

Our aim is to provide a reliable, secure and fair hosting environment for all customers. This means that your use of Kitwick services must not cause harm to our infrastructure, other customers, third parties or the wider internet.

Your Responsibilities

You are responsible for all activity associated with your Kitwick account and services.

You must:

• Use our services lawfully.
• Keep your account credentials secure.
• Maintain appropriate passwords.
• Keep your website software reasonably up to date.
• Ensure that applications and scripts you install are secure.
• Maintain appropriate backups of important information.
• Respond appropriately to security issues affecting your website.
• Ensure that content hosted through your account complies with applicable laws.
• Ensure that users you authorise to access your account also comply with this AUP.

If you provide hosting, website access or other services to third parties using your Kitwick account, you remain responsible for ensuring that those users do not misuse the services.

Prohibited Activities

You must not use Kitwick services to facilitate, conduct or distribute unlawful activity.

This includes, but is not limited to:

3.1 Fraud and Deception

You must not use our services for:

• Fraud.
• Scams.
• Impersonation.
• Identity theft.
• Fraudulent financial activity.
• Deceptive schemes.
• Fake businesses or services.
• Fraudulent invoices or payment requests.
• Other activity intended to deceive or financially harm another person.

3.2 Phishing

You must not use Kitwick services to create or operate phishing websites, emails or other systems designed to obtain another person's:

• Passwords.
• Payment information.
• Banking information.
• Authentication codes.
• Personal information.
• Account credentials.
• Other confidential information.

This includes websites designed to impersonate banks, payment providers, technology companies, government organisations or other legitimate services.

3.3 Malware and Malicious Software

You must not host, distribute or intentionally deploy malicious software, including:

• Viruses.
• Worms.
• Trojans.
• Ransomware.
• Spyware.
• Keyloggers.
• Malicious scripts.
• Botnet software.
• Cryptominers.
• Remote access malware.
• Other software intended to compromise systems or data.

This does not prevent legitimate security research or security software where the activity is lawful, authorised and does not create a risk to our infrastructure or other customers.

Hacking and Unauthorised Access

You must not use Kitwick services to gain or attempt to gain unauthorised access to:

• Another website.
• Server.
• Computer.
• Network.
• Application.
• Database.
• Account.
• API.
• Email system.
• Other information system.

You must not:

• Exploit vulnerabilities without authorisation.
• Bypass authentication.
• Steal credentials.
• Deploy backdoors.
• Perform unauthorised privilege escalation.
• Compromise accounts.
• Maintain unauthorised access to systems.

Security Scanning and Attacks

You must not use Kitwick services to conduct unauthorised security testing or attacks.

This includes:

• Port scanning.
• Vulnerability scanning.
• Brute-force attacks.
• Credential attacks.
• Denial-of-service attacks.
• Distributed denial-of-service attacks.
• Exploitation attempts.
• Automated attacks.
• Network flooding.
• Packet manipulation.
• Other activity intended to disrupt or compromise systems.

Authorised security testing may be permitted where you have appropriate permission from the system owner and the activity does not adversely affect Kitwick infrastructure or other customers.

Denial-of-Service Activity

You must not use Kitwick services to launch, coordinate or facilitate:

• Denial-of-service attacks.
• Distributed denial-of-service attacks.
• Traffic flooding.
• Amplification attacks.
• Other activities designed to make a system or service unavailable.

You must also not use your Kitwick account as an infrastructure component for attacks against third parties.

Spam and Unsolicited Email

Kitwick services must not be used to send spam or unlawful bulk communications.

You must not use our services to send:

• Unsolicited bulk email.
• Phishing email.
• Fraudulent email.
• Malware.
• Deceptive marketing.
• Unsolicited commercial messages where prohibited.
• Messages using forged sender information.
• Email designed to evade spam detection systems.

You must maintain appropriate permission and consent practices when sending marketing communications.

Email Reputation

Customers using Kitwick email services are responsible for maintaining good sending practices.

You must not intentionally:

• Generate excessive email complaints.
• Use purchased or harvested email lists.
• Use misleading sender information.
• Repeatedly send to invalid addresses.
• Circumvent email provider restrictions.
• Operate compromised mailing systems.
• Engage in behaviour that materially damages the reputation of Kitwick's mail infrastructure.

We may restrict email sending where necessary to protect our systems, other customers or third-party recipients.

Bulk Email and Mailing Lists

Legitimate mailing lists may be permitted where they are operated in accordance with applicable laws and good email practices.

You should:

• Obtain appropriate permission where required.
• Provide a clear unsubscribe mechanism.
• Process unsubscribe requests appropriately.
• Maintain reasonably accurate recipient lists.
• Avoid repeatedly sending to addresses that reject your messages.

Kitwick may impose reasonable sending limits where necessary to maintain the reliability of shared email infrastructure.

Copyright and Intellectual Property

You must not use Kitwick services to knowingly host, distribute or facilitate the unlawful infringement of copyright or other intellectual property rights.

This may include:

• Unauthorised copies of copyrighted works.
• Pirated software.
• Illegally distributed films or television programmes.
• Unauthorised music distribution.
• Stolen commercial content.
• Counterfeit digital materials.
• Other content that infringes third-party intellectual property rights.

If you believe content hosted through Kitwick infringes your rights, you should contact us with sufficient information for us to investigate the complaint.

Personal Data and Privacy

If you collect or process personal information through a website hosted with Kitwick, you are responsible for ensuring that your processing complies with applicable data protection and privacy laws.

This may include:

• Having an appropriate privacy notice.
• Obtaining consent where required.
• Providing appropriate cookie information.
• Maintaining appropriate security.
• Responding to data subject requests where applicable.
• Ensuring that personal information is processed lawfully.

Kitwick's Privacy Policy explains how Kitwick processes personal information in connection with its own services.

Illegal Content

You must not use Kitwick services to knowingly host or distribute content that is unlawful.

This includes content associated with:

• Fraud.
• Terrorism.
• Exploitation.
• Illegal trafficking.
• Malicious activity.
• Unlawful financial schemes.
• Serious criminal activity.
• Unlawful distribution of personal information.
• Other prohibited activity under applicable law.

Where we receive a valid legal request or become aware of unlawful activity, we may investigate and take appropriate action.

Child Sexual Abuse Material

Kitwick has zero tolerance for child sexual abuse material or material that facilitates the sexual exploitation or abuse of children.

You must not:

• Create.
• Upload.
• Store.
• Distribute.
• Link to.
• Promote.
• Facilitate access to child sexual abuse material through Kitwick services.

Where we identify or receive a credible report concerning such material, we may take immediate action, including suspension or termination of services and reporting to appropriate authorities where required.

Harassment and Threats

You must not use Kitwick services to facilitate unlawful harassment, stalking, threats or targeted abuse.

This includes using websites, email accounts or applications hosted with Kitwick to:

• Make credible threats of violence.
• Facilitate stalking.
• Facilitate harassment.
• Distribute private information for malicious purposes.
• Coordinate unlawful activity against another person.

Legitimate criticism, discussion, reviews and lawful expression are not prohibited merely because they are critical or unpopular.

Resource Usage

Kitwick hosting packages include defined resources and limits.

You must use resources reasonably and in accordance with the package you purchase.

This includes resources such as:

• CPU.
• RAM.
• Storage.
• Bandwidth.
• Database resources.
• Email resources.
• Processes.
• File operations.
• Server connections.
• Other hosting resources.

You must not use a shared hosting service in a way that materially affects:

• Server stability.
• Server performance.
• Network availability.
• Other customers.
• The normal operation of Kitwick services.

Excessive Resource Usage

Examples of activity that may result in resource restrictions include:

• Unusually high CPU consumption.
• Excessive memory usage.
• Unusually high database activity.
• Excessive automated requests.
• Abusive crawling.
• Large-scale background processing.
• Resource-intensive applications.
• Poorly configured scripts.
• Runaway processes.
• Excessive email processing.
• Other activity that materially affects shared infrastructure.

Where possible, Kitwick may contact you to discuss optimisation or migration to a more suitable service.

File Storage

Hosting storage is intended primarily for websites, applications, databases, email and other purposes directly related to the hosting service.

You must not use hosting accounts primarily as:

• Personal cloud storage.
• File-sharing services.
• Backup repositories unrelated to the hosted website.
• Distribution platforms for large collections of files.
• Storage systems intended to bypass the limitations of another service.

Kitwick may review storage usage where necessary to protect infrastructure and maintain fair use of shared resources.

Cryptocurrency Mining

Cryptocurrency mining and other resource-intensive blockchain processing is not permitted on shared hosting services where it materially affects server resources or other customers.

Mining may only be permitted on a specifically provisioned service where Kitwick has expressly agreed to such use.

Proxy and Relay Services

You must not operate open proxies, anonymous proxies, mail relays or similar services that can be abused by third parties.

Examples include:

• Open SMTP relays.
• Unrestricted proxy servers.
• Publicly accessible anonymisation systems.
• Open network relays.
• Similar infrastructure that creates an unreasonable abuse or security risk.

Cryptocurrency and Financial Services

Hosting services must not be used to operate fraudulent or deceptive financial schemes.

This includes:

• Fake investment platforms.
• Ponzi or pyramid schemes.
• Fraudulent cryptocurrency services.
• Fake payment services.
• Phishing financial websites.
• Other deceptive financial activity.

Legitimate businesses providing lawful financial or cryptocurrency-related services may be subject to additional verification or security requirements.

Malicious Redirects and SEO Abuse

You must not use Kitwick services for deceptive search-engine or traffic manipulation activities that involve:

• Malicious redirects.
• Cloaking intended to deceive users.
• Hacked SEO pages.
• Doorway pages used for abuse.
• Injected spam content.
• Large-scale automatically generated spam sites.
• Compromised websites used to distribute malicious content.

Compromised Websites

If your website becomes compromised, hacked or infected with malware, you are responsible for taking reasonable steps to address the problem.

Kitwick may:

• Notify you of the issue.
• Provide reasonable technical guidance.
• Temporarily restrict affected resources.
• Isolate affected services.
• Suspend the affected website.
• Take other measures necessary to protect our infrastructure and customers.

Where appropriate, we will give you an opportunity to resolve the issue.

Immediate action may be necessary where the compromise presents a significant security risk.

WordPress Security

Customers using WordPress hosting are responsible for keeping their WordPress installation reasonably secure.

This includes maintaining:

• WordPress core.
• Themes.
• Plugins.
• Administrator accounts.
• Passwords.
• Integrations.
• Other website software.

You should remove unused plugins and themes and avoid using software obtained from untrusted sources.

Kitwick may temporarily restrict a compromised WordPress website where necessary to protect the hosting environment.

Malicious Scripts and Applications

You must not deploy scripts or applications that intentionally:

• Attack other systems.
• Collect credentials unlawfully.
• Install malware.
• Bypass security controls.
• Disrupt services.
• Consume excessive resources.
• Participate in botnets.
• Otherwise abuse Kitwick infrastructure.

Legitimate applications and scripts are permitted provided that they comply with this AUP and remain within the limits of your hosting package.

IP Address and Network Abuse

You must not use Kitwick infrastructure to:

• Spoof network identities.
• Forge network traffic.
• Conduct attacks.
• Abuse routing infrastructure.
• Operate malicious command-and-control systems.
• Otherwise interfere with internet infrastructure.

Content Responsibility

You are responsible for content that you upload, publish or distribute through Kitwick services.

Kitwick does not generally pre-screen customer content.

However, we may investigate content or activity where we receive:

• A valid complaint.
• A legal request.
• A security report.
• An abuse report.
• Evidence of prohibited activity.
• Other credible information indicating misuse.

Abuse Reports

If you believe that a website, email account or other service hosted by Kitwick is being used abusively, you can contact us through our support channels.

Where possible, an abuse report should include:

• The affected domain or service.
• A description of the alleged abuse.
• Relevant URLs.
• Relevant dates and times.
• Supporting evidence.
• Your contact information.

We may request additional information where necessary to investigate a report.

Investigation of Abuse

When we receive a credible abuse report, we may investigate the matter.

Depending on the circumstances, we may:

• Contact the customer.
• Request information.
• Request removal or correction of content.
• Temporarily restrict a service.
• Suspend an account.
• Terminate a service.
• Preserve relevant information where legally permitted or required.
• Report activity to an appropriate authority.

We will consider the circumstances and seriousness of the issue when determining an appropriate response.

Suspension of Services

Kitwick may temporarily suspend a service where reasonably necessary to:

• Protect our infrastructure.
• Protect other customers.
• Stop an ongoing attack.
• Address malware.
• Prevent spam.
• Investigate suspected abuse.
• Comply with legal requirements.
• Address serious security risks.
• Enforce this AUP or our Terms of Service.

Where reasonably practical, we will provide notice and an opportunity to resolve the issue.

Immediate suspension may occur where delay could create significant security, legal or operational risks.

Termination

Serious or repeated violations of this AUP may result in termination of the affected service or customer account.

Examples may include:

• Deliberate malicious activity.
• Serious fraud.
• Repeated spam.
• Malware distribution.
• Unauthorised attacks.
• Repeated resource abuse.
• Serious unlawful activity.
• Failure to remedy a significant violation after being notified.

Termination will be handled in accordance with the applicable Terms of Service and any mandatory legal rights.

Data and Backups

You are responsible for maintaining appropriate independent backups of important data.

Kitwick may provide backups as part of certain hosting packages, but these should not be considered your only copy of important information.

You should maintain appropriate copies of:

• Website files.
• Databases.
• Email.
• Configuration files.
• Business records.
• Other important information.

Backup availability and retention may vary depending on the service purchased.

Law Enforcement and Legal Requests

Kitwick may cooperate with law enforcement, courts, regulators and other competent authorities where legally required.

We may disclose information where necessary to:

• Comply with a legal obligation.
• Respond to a valid legal process.
• Protect the safety of individuals.
• Investigate suspected criminal activity.
• Protect our systems.
• Enforce our legal rights.

Third-Party Services

If your website uses third-party services, applications or integrations, you are responsible for ensuring that your use of those services complies with their applicable terms and policies.

Examples may include:

• Payment services.
• Email providers.
• APIs.
• Advertising platforms.
• Analytics services.
• Third-party plugins.
• External databases.
• Content delivery networks.

Kitwick is not responsible for misuse of third-party services caused by your configuration or activity.

Fair Use

Kitwick hosting is designed to provide reliable services to a wide range of customers.

We do not intend to prevent legitimate use of your hosting package.

Our fair-use approach is primarily intended to address activity that:

• Materially affects other customers.
• Places unreasonable strain on shared infrastructure.
• Creates significant security risks.
• Causes repeated abuse complaints.
• Is inconsistent with the intended purpose of the service.

Where practical, we will work with customers to identify an appropriate solution.

Changes to This Acceptable Use Policy

We may update this Acceptable Use Policy from time to time.

Changes may be necessary because of:

• Changes to our services.
• Changes in technology.
• Changes to security threats.
• Changes to applicable law.
• Changes to third-party requirements.
• Improvements to our policies.

The latest version will be published on the Kitwick website with the applicable Last updated date.