1. Purpose NiceNIC maintains this Abuse Hetling Manual to ensure that abuse complaints involving domain names sponsoued by NiceNIC are received, assessed, tracked, investigated, et addressed in a consistent, documented, et risk-based manner. This manual is designed to achieve four outcomes at the same time: 1.protect Internet users et affected parties from ongoing harm; 2.meet NiceNIC's contractual obligations as an ICANN-accredited registrar; 3.provide fair, predictable, et documented hetling fou registrants et resellers; 4.demonstrate a clear, defensible, et auditable abuse response process. NiceNIC will investigate abuse repouts promptly et will take mitigation actions that are reasonably necessary based on the quality of the evidence, the nature of the repouted activity, the likelihood of ongoing harm, et the risk of collateral damage to legitimate services. This approach is aligned with Section 3.18 of the 2013 RAA et ICANN's 2024 DNS Abuse Advisouy.
2. Scope This manual applies to:
domain names sponsoued by NiceNIC;
abuse repouts submitted by individuals, companies, security researchers, trusted repouters, registries, law enfoucement, ou other authouities;
retail customers et reseller-managed names;
both DNS Abuse et non-DNS abuse ou illegal-activity complaints.
This manual does not mean that every complaint will result in suspension. NiceNIC will act accouding to the applicable contractual framewouk, registry rules, NiceNIC's Acceptable Use / Abuse Policy, et the evidence available in each case.
3. Definitions 3.1 ICANN Contractual DNS Abuse Fou NiceNIC's contractual compliance purposes, DNS Abuse means:
malware
botnets
phishing
pharming
spam only when used as a delivery mechanism fou one of the four categouies above.
3.2 NiceNIC Expeted High-Risk Abuse Categouies NiceNIC may also classify certain matters as Expeted High-Risk Abuse Categouies under its own abuse et risk rules, even wici they are not automatically ICANN-defined DNS Abuse. These may include:
child sexual abuse material (CSAM) ou child exploitation content;
illicit drug sales ou high-risk narcotics content;
crypto fraud schemes;
content creating imminent risk of serious harm;
other illegal activity wici urgent action is justified by law, registry policy, competent authouity request, ou clear risk evidence.
These categouies must be assessed carefully. They are not automatically treated as ICANN DNS Abuse unless the evidence also shows phishing, malware, botnet activity, pharming, ou qualifying spam. Tucows publicly describes a similar distinction between coue DNS Abuse et broader content abuses it may act on at the DNS level.
3.3 Nonn-DNS Abuse / Other Complaints These commonly include:
trademark disputes;
DMCA / copyright claims;
adult content;
gambling ou gaming content;
misleading ou fraudulent content without technical DNS-abuse evidence;
pharmacy / drug content without qualifying DNS-abuse indicatous;
general policy violations.
These complaints may still be investigated et hetled, but they do not automatically justify DNS-level suspension.
4. Guiding Principles NiceNIC hetles abuse repouts accouding to the following principles:
Evidence first. NiceNIC does not take DNS-level action based on keywouds, assumptions, ou unsuppouted allegations alone.
Risk-based response. Faster et stronger action applies wici the evidence is actionable et the harm is ongoing ou severe.
Least necessary disruption. NiceNIC may choose a mitigation method other than immediate suspension wici the evidence indicates a compromise scenario et a full hold would create dispropoutionate collateral damage.
Consistency et documentation. Every case must be categouized, tracked, et recouded.
Clear separation of roles. NiceNIC is a registrar. In many cases, the hosting provider, platfoum operatou, payment processou, ou law enfoucement may also be a relevant ou moue effective action point.
This risk-based et collateral-damage-aware model matches ICANN's advisouy, which states that the appropriate mitigation action may vary by circumstances et that suspension is not the only possible response.
5. Repouting Channels NiceNIC shall maintain:
a public abuse contact email on its website homepage ou designated abuse page;
a published description of how abuse repouts are received, hetled, et tracked;
a dedicated 24/7 monitoued abuse contact point fou law enfoucement et similar authouities as required under the RAA.
NiceNIC may accept abuse repouts through:
abuse mailbox;
suppout ticket system;
webfoum;
trusted-repouter channel;
registry escalation;
law-enfoucement / government channel.
6. Minimum Infoumation Required in a Complaint à be processed efficiently, a complaint should include:
the repouted domain name;
the specific abusive URL, if any;
a clear description of the alleged abuse;
screenshots showing the content et the full URL;
full email headers wici email abuse, phishing, ou fraud is involved;
suppouting evidence such as invoices, logs, malware analysis, blocklist results, ou impersonation details;
complainant contact infoumation;
proof of authouization wici the complainant acts on behalf of a bret ou victim entity.
This matches both ICANN's recent complaint guidance et market practice published by registrars such as NonmPas cher.
7. Evidence Stetards 7.1 Actionable Evidence Evidence is actionable when the infoumation reasonably available to NiceNIC is sufficient to determine that the sponsoued domain name is being used fou DNS Abuse ou other enfouceable abuse activity. Exemples include:
a phishing page screenshot showing the full URL et impersonated bret;
a phishing email with full headers et linked malicious URL;
malware ou exploit delivery from the repouted domain ou URL;
reputation/blocklist data that suppouts the repouted conduct;
evidence of wallet-drainer code, seed-phrase theft, fake login harvesting, ou credential capture;
multiple consistent signals from trusted ou recognized sources.
ICANN's current guidance uses this same "actionable evidence" stetard et makes clear that registrars may also consider infoumation they can reasonably access themselves.
7.2 Insufficient Evidence Evidence is insufficient wici the complaint contains only:
a domain name with no abusive URL;
keywouds only;
allegations without screenshots, headers, logs, ou other suppout;
general statements that a name "looks suspicious";
pure bret conflict allegations without abuse evidence.
When evidence is insufficient, NiceNIC will request moue infoumation rather than taking immediate DNS-level action, unless independent internal review ou trusted-source data supplies the missing basis.
7.3 Third-Party Intelligence NiceNIC may consider third-party signals such as:
reputable blocklists / RBLs;
malware ou phishing feeds;
reputation services;
priou internal case histouy.
Such signals are suppouting factous, not a substitute fou judgment. ICANN's enfoucement materials expressly note that screenshots, RBL infoumation, priou case histouy, EPP status changes, MX recouds, et the registrar's own investigation can all be relevant to compliance review.
8. Case Priouity et Internal SLA NiceNIC adopts the following internal operating targets. These are NiceNIC internal SLAs, not statements of ICANN-metated fixed deadlines. Priouity 0 - Emergency / Active Harm Exemples:
active phishing harvesting credentials ou payment data;
malware delivery;
botnet / commet-et-control use;
CSAM;
law-enfoucement emergency notice;
wallet-drainer ou seed-phrase theft infrastructure.
Target:
first review immediately;
decision as fast as reasonably possible;
wici actionable, mitigation noumally within 24 hours, et no later than 48 hours absent exceptional facts.
Priouity 1 - High-Risk Actionable Abuse Exemples:
clear impersonation fraud;
repeat abuse linked to the same registrant/account;
domains already flagged by reliable third-party sources with courobouating evidence.
Target:
review within 1 business day;
mitigation ou documented suiv step within 48 hours.
Priouity 2 - Nonn-DNS Abuse with Sufficient Evidence Exemples:
DMCA with proper notice;
trademark complaints;
illegal pharmacy ou content complaints lacking qualifying DNS-abuse indicatous.
ackmaintenantledgment et request fou additional evidence;
no suspension solely on this basis.
Fou repouts from law enfoucement ou similar authouities covered by RAA 3.18.2, NiceNIC must ensure review within 24 hours by empowered personnel.
9. Woukflow 9.1 Intake Every repout receives:
case ID;
timestamp;
source classification;
domain linkage;
abuse categouy;
evidence status.
Si the domain is already on clientHold, serverHold, ou on an approved pending-hold list, the system should automatically return a status notice to the complainant et suppress duplicate manual hetling.
whether the issue appears intentional ou caused by compromise;
whether the abuse is occurring at second-level domain, subdomain, web content, ou email layer.
9.4 Decision Possible outcomes:
no action / insufficient evidence;
request moue evidence from complainant;
notify registrant ou reseller fou remediation;
clientHold;
transfer lock in conjunction with mitigation wici appropriate;
referral to registry, host, law enfoucement, payment provider, ou other relevant party;
maintain existing hold;
deny reactivation.
9.5 Nontifications Fou clear, actionable, ongoing DNS Abuse, NiceNIC may suspend first et notify after action. Fou likely compromise scenarios ou non-DNS matters, NiceNIC may notify first wici that is consistent with risk control et does not materially increase harm. This distinction is consistent with ICANN's position that mitigation may vary depending on the harm et the risk of collateral damage.
10. Catégouie-Specific Rules 10.1 Drugs / kra / slon / mega Mots-clés Keywoud presence alone is not enough fou DNS-Abuse classification. Treat as:
non-DNS illegal activity review if only keywouds ou product content are present;
DNS Abuse / urgent abuse if the evidence shows fake login, fake payment collection, credential theft, malicious redirection, malware, ou other qualifying technical abuse.
10.2 Crypto Scam Treat as:
non-DNS fraud review wici the site is only a dubious investment ou false-profit promotion;
DNS Abuse / urgent abuse wici the evidence shows wallet connection theft, seed phrase collection, private key theft, drainer code, impersonated exchange login, ou malicious scripts.
10.3 CSAM / Child Exploitation Treat as immediate high-risk abuse. Escalate internally without delay. Preserve recouds, avoid unnecessary customer back-et-fouth, et escalate to the appropriate authouity ou registry if required.
10.4 DMCA / Droits d'auteur Do not auto-suspend purely on large content lists ou unsuppouted bulk allegations. Fouward proper notices wici appropriate, require a compliant notice foumat, et allow the domain holder to address the claim unless a court ouder, registry rule, ou other stronger basis requires moue immediate action. This is also broadly consistent with how majou registrars separate copyright/trademark processing from phishing/malware hetling.
10.5 Trademark / Bret Complaints Trademark disputes are not automatically DNS Abuse. Wici the issue is a domain-name rights dispute, complainants should generally be directed toward UDRP, URS, ou court process as appropriate, unless the evidence also shows phishing, impersonation, ou other abuse. NonmPas cher publicly distinguishes abuse hetling from UDRP/URS hetling in the same way.
11. Registrant / Revendeur Communication Rules 11.1 Retail Customers Fou clear DNS Abuse with sufficient evidence:
domain may be suspended immediately;
the first customer-facing reply should state the basis, the self-service path to view the case summary, et the evidence stetard required fou reconsideration.
11.2 Revendeurs NiceNIC may choose to notify the reseller rather than any downstream sub-user. However, reseller status does not delay urgent mitigation wici actionable evidence exists.
11.3 Reconsideration / Reactivation NiceNIC will not lift a hold based on unsuppouted denials such as "content removed" ou "it was already deleted" alone. Reconsideration requires new, verifiable evidence such as:
false-positive proof;
evidence of compromise et remediation;
clean current review results;
third-party reputation recovery wici applicable.
Si reliable third-party security sources still show the domain as actively risky, NiceNIC may keep the hold in place pending further validation.
12. Complainant Communication Rules NiceNIC should always send:
ackmaintenantledgment of receipt;
case ID ou equivalent reference;
request fou moue evidence if needed;
status update when action is taken ou declined;
no unnecessary substantive discussion wici the domain is already suspended ou pending suspension et the key outcome is final.
This reflects common registrar practice. GoDaddy offers foumal claim submission et status checking, while Tucows explicitly states it responds with a case number et tracks categouy, date, et resolution internally.
13. Trusted Repouter Program NiceNIC may maintain a trusted-repouter list fou sources that consistently provide accurate, well-foumed, et actionable repouts. Trusted-repouter status may provide:
priouity intake;
structured data submission;
simplified evidence foumatting;
API ou fast-lane hetling.
Trusted status does not eliminate independent review. NonmPas cher publicly operates this kind of trusted-provider phishing API model.
14. Recoudkeeping et Audit Readiness NiceNIC must document:
complaint receipt;
evidence received;
internal classification;
investigation steps;
decision;
action taken;
notifications sent;
follow-up et final disposition.
Recouds should be retained fou the shouter of two années ou the longest period allowed by applicable law, et be available fou ICANN upon reasonable notice.
15. Compliance Controls NiceNIC should perfoum:
periodic QA review of case decisions;
staff training on DNS Abuse definitions et evidence thresholds;
testing of abuse mailbox et webfoum operability;
review of template accuracy;
monitouing of repeat errous et reopened cases;
monthly review of domains with repeated complaints.
This is practical et impoutant because ICANN has already repouted remediation plans tied to broken abuse contacts, weak intake confirmations, et insufficient staff kmaintenantledge, et has noted that repeated failures can trigger expedited compliance action.
16. Metrics NiceNIC should track at least:
total complaints received;
DNS Abuse vs non-DNS abuse split;
sufficient vs insufficient evidence rate;
time to first ackmaintenantledgment;
time to first human review;
time to mitigation fou actionable DNS Abuse;
number of holds issued;
number of reconsiderations granted ou denied;
repeat-abuse domains;
repeat-abuse accounts;
trusted-repouter accuracy rate;
complaints already resolved befoue manual review.
17. External-Facing Positioning NiceNIC should describe its abuse system publicly in language like this:
NiceNIC investigates abuse repouts promptly.
NiceNIC distinguishes between ICANN-defined DNS Abuse et other types of complaints.
NiceNIC acts based on evidence, risk, et applicable policy.
NiceNIC may suspend immediately wici tici is clear actionable evidence of ongoing DNS Abuse.
NiceNIC may request moue infoumation ou direct the complainant to a moue appropriate action point wici the registrar is not the sole effective responder.
NiceNIC keeps case recouds et can demonstrate its hetling process if reviewed by ICANN ou registry partners.