This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") governs the use of all services provided by Vikalink Domain And Hosting ("Vikalink", "we", "us"), including shared hosting, WordPress hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, email hosting, domain registration, and all related infrastructure and network services.
This AUP is incorporated by reference into Vikalink's Terms of Service and forms a legally binding part of the agreement between Vikalink and every customer. By activating or using any Vikalink service, you agree to comply with this AUP in full.
This AUP applies not only to you as the account holder, but also to any person you permit to access your account, any sub-accounts you create, and — if you are a reseller — to all end-customers hosted under your account. You are responsible for ensuring compliance throughout your account.
Key Definitions
Vikalink welcomes a wide range of legitimate online activity. The following use cases are explicitly supported and encouraged on our infrastructure:
If your use case is not listed above but you believe it is legitimate, contact our team before deploying. We are happy to confirm whether your intended use is supported.
The following categories of content are absolutely prohibited on all Vikalink servers, networks, and services, regardless of whether such content is legal in any particular jurisdiction. Hosting any of the below may result in immediate suspension and/or law enforcement referral.
Zero Tolerance: Discovery of CSAM or terrorism content will result in immediate account termination without notice, data preservation for law enforcement, and mandatory reporting to the Ghana Police Service, CERT-GH, and relevant international bodies including NCMEC.
Email abuse is one of the most common causes of account suspension at any hosting provider. Vikalink takes email compliance extremely seriously to protect the deliverability reputation of all customers on shared IP ranges.
Absolutely Prohibited Email Activity
- Sending unsolicited bulk email (spam) to any recipient who has not given explicit opt-in consent
- Operating open mail relays or SMTP proxies that can be exploited by third parties
- Sending email with forged or spoofed headers, false sender addresses, or deceptive "from" names
- Harvesting email addresses from websites, public databases, or purchased lists for unsolicited mailing
- Using scripts or bots to send email in bulk volumes that impact server performance
- Sending phishing emails or emails containing malware, malicious links, or fraudulent attachments
- Sending email that impersonates banks, government agencies, or other entities
Permitted Email Activity
- Transactional email (order confirmations, password resets, account notifications) to your own customers
- Marketing email to subscribers who have explicitly opted in, with a clear and functional unsubscribe mechanism in every message
- Business correspondence and internal team communication
- Automated notifications generated by your web application for legitimate business purposes
Sending Volume Limits
Shared hosting accounts are subject to the following default outbound email limits to protect server reputation:
| Plan Type | Default Hourly Limit | Default Daily Limit | Increase Available? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shared Hosting | 200 emails/hour | 1,000 emails/day | On request |
| WordPress Hosting | 200 emails/hour | 1,000 emails/day | On request |
| Reseller Hosting | 500 emails/hour per cPanel | 2,500 emails/day per cPanel | On request |
| VPS Hosting | Configurable | Configurable | Fully flexible |
Customers requiring higher volumes for legitimate marketing purposes should consider a dedicated SMTP service (e.g., SendGrid, Mailchimp, Amazon SES) integrated with their hosting account.
A single spam complaint resulting in IP blacklisting may impact the email deliverability of all customers on that IP. Repeated spam violations will result in account suspension and may incur blacklist remediation fees.
Vikalink's infrastructure serves thousands of customers. Any activity that compromises network integrity, degrades performance, or attacks third-party systems will not be tolerated under any circumstances.
- Launching, coordinating, or facilitating DDoS or DoS attacks against any target
- Hosting DDoS-for-hire (booter/stresser) services
- Using Vikalink servers as amplification reflectors
- Conducting unauthorised port scans or vulnerability probes of any system
- Running network reconnaissance tools against external targets
- Attempting to exploit vulnerabilities in third-party services
- Hosting botnet command-and-control infrastructure
- Distributing malware that recruits devices into botnets
- Operating IRC networks used to coordinate malicious activity
- Running cryptocurrency mining scripts on shared hosting CPU resources
- Embedding browser-based mining scripts in hosted websites
- Deploying mining operations on VPS without prior written approval
- Operating open proxies, anonymising proxies, or Tor exit nodes
- Routing third-party traffic to obscure its origin
- Running VPN exit nodes on shared hosting
- Attempting to access other customers' accounts, files, or databases
- Circumventing account isolation or container security measures
- Exploiting software vulnerabilities on Vikalink systems
Penetration testing exception: Customers who wish to perform authorised penetration testing or security audits of their own hosted applications must obtain written approval from Vikalink at least 72 hours in advance. Testing must be scoped to your own resources only. Contact security@vikalink.com.
Shared hosting environments are, by definition, shared. Responsible resource usage ensures consistent performance for every customer. The following rules apply to all shared and reseller hosting accounts.
CPU & Processing
- No single account may sustain CPU usage above 25% of a single CPU core for extended periods. Spike usage during legitimate traffic bursts is permitted.
- Long-running PHP scripts, background processes, and cron jobs must be designed to exit promptly and not loop indefinitely.
- CPU-intensive tasks such as video transcoding, bulk image processing, or machine learning inference are not permitted on shared hosting — upgrade to a VPS for such workloads.
Database Usage
- MySQL queries must be optimised. Queries that lock tables or run for more than 30 seconds may be killed automatically to protect shared database servers.
- Accounts with more than 50 concurrent database connections may be throttled.
- Storing large binary files (video, audio, archives) in database tables is prohibited.
Storage & Inodes
- While disk space is unmetered, accounts exceeding 100,000 inodes (files and directories) will be flagged for review. Excessive inodes slow backup operations for all customers.
- Using your hosting account primarily as a file distribution platform, backup storage service, or media archive is not permitted on shared plans.
- Storing large numbers of identical or near-identical files (e.g., log files, generated thumbnails) without automated cleanup is prohibited.
Bandwidth
- Bandwidth is unmetered for standard website traffic. Using your hosting account to distribute large files (ISO images, software installers, video files) for public download at scale is not permitted on shared plans.
- Hotlinking — embedding your hosted files in third-party websites to consume your bandwidth — where this creates abuse for other customers, is not permitted.
If your website legitimately grows beyond shared hosting limits, Vikalink will contact you to discuss a VPS upgrade. We will never throttle or suspend a legitimately growing website without first offering an upgrade path.
Resellers occupy a unique position: they are both customers of Vikalink and service providers to their own end-customers. This dual role carries additional responsibilities.
Pass-Through Compliance
Resellers must impose terms of service and an acceptable use policy on their end-customers that are at least as restrictive as this AUP. You are directly and wholly responsible for all activity on all accounts hosted under your reseller plan, regardless of which end-customer caused the violation.
Rapid Response Obligation
- Upon receiving an abuse notification from Vikalink, resellers must investigate and respond within 4 hours for critical violations (spam, malware, DDoS) and 24 hours for standard violations.
- Failure to act on abuse notifications within the required timeframe may result in Vikalink taking direct action on the offending sub-account, including suspension.
- Resellers must maintain up-to-date contact information and monitor their support email continuously during business hours.
Know Your Customer (KYC)
- Resellers should maintain basic contact records for all end-customers. In the event of a serious abuse complaint or law enforcement request, Vikalink may require you to provide end-customer contact details.
- Hosting services may not be knowingly provided to individuals or organisations on international sanctions lists.
Repeated abuse originating from a reseller's account — even when caused by end-customers — may result in the reseller's entire account being suspended while investigations are conducted.
Vikalink respects intellectual property rights and requires all customers to do the same. You may not use our infrastructure to infringe upon the intellectual property rights of any third party.
Prohibited IP Violations
- Hosting, distributing, or streaming copyrighted content (films, music, software, books) without the rights holder's authorisation
- Operating torrent trackers, BitTorrent indexing sites, or file-locker services used primarily for infringing content
- Using another organisation's trademark, logo, or brand identity in a way likely to cause confusion or deceive consumers
- Registering or using domain names that infringe third-party trademarks (cybersquatting)
- Scraping and republishing substantial portions of copyrighted websites without authorisation
DMCA & Copyright Takedown
Vikalink responds to valid copyright takedown notices. If you receive a DMCA-style notice about content you host, you must remove or disable access to the disputed content within 48 hours or provide a valid counter-notice. Failure to respond may result in Vikalink taking direct action to disable the content.
To file a copyright complaint about content hosted on Vikalink infrastructure, contact legal@vikalink.com with full details of the infringing material.
Zero Tolerance Policy: The sexual exploitation of children is the most serious violation of this AUP. Any account found to host, distribute, link to, or facilitate access to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) will be terminated immediately without prior notice. All relevant data will be preserved and provided to the Ghana Police Service, CERT-GH, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).
Prohibited — Child-Related
- Child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in any format — images, video, text, animation, or AI-generated content
- Content that sexualises minors in any manner, including drawn, illustrated, or fictional depictions
- Grooming platforms, chat services, or websites designed to facilitate contact between adults and minors for sexual purposes
- Any service that collects personal data from children without verifiable parental consent
- Platforms that direct minors toward harmful content, age-inappropriate materials, or dangerous individuals
Reporting
If you encounter CSAM or child exploitation content hosted on Vikalink infrastructure, report it immediately to abuse@vikalink.com. You may also report directly to the Internet Watch Foundation at iwf.org.uk or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at missingkids.org.
Vikalink enforces this AUP on a graduated basis proportional to the severity and recurrence of the violation. Our response framework is as follows:
| Severity | Examples | Typical Response | Notice Given? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Critical | CSAM, terrorism, active DDoS attack, malware command-and-control | Immediate termination, data preserved for law enforcement, no refund | No notice |
| High | Phishing, spam campaigns, botnet hosting, crypto mining, piracy | Immediate suspension of affected account/service; investigation; termination if confirmed | No notice |
| Medium | Resource abuse, excessive inodes, prohibited content (non-illegal) | Warning issued; 48-hour remediation window; suspension if unresolved | 48 hrs notice |
| Low | Minor ToS breach, unoptimised scripts, excessive cron jobs | Advisory email; guidance provided; monitoring increased | Full notice |
Additional Consequences
- Accounts terminated for AUP violations are not eligible for refunds.
- Vikalink may pursue civil or criminal legal action for violations that cause harm to our infrastructure, other customers, or third parties.
- Vikalink may report violations to the appropriate authorities, including the Ghana Police Service, CERT-GH, ICANN, and international abuse organisations.
- Individuals whose accounts are terminated for serious violations may be permanently barred from creating new Vikalink accounts.
Vikalink takes abuse reports seriously. If you believe content or activity hosted on our infrastructure violates this AUP, Ghanaian law, or accepted internet standards, please report it to us immediately.
What to Include in Your Report
- The URL or IP address of the offending content or service
- A clear description of the violation and the harm caused or at risk
- Screenshots, log excerpts, or other evidence where available
- Your contact information (we treat reporter identities confidentially)
- Date and time you observed the violation (with timezone)
We aim to acknowledge all abuse reports within 4 hours and resolve confirmed high-severity cases within 24 hours.
Vikalink's abuse handling process is designed to be fair, fast, and proportionate. When a potential violation is detected — whether through automated monitoring, a third-party report, or law enforcement request — the following process applies:
Investigation
Our abuse team reviews the reported activity and assesses whether a violation of this AUP has occurred. For automated detections (e.g., outbound spam, malware signatures), initial suspension may be applied immediately to prevent ongoing harm while the investigation is conducted.
Customer Notification
For non-critical violations, we will notify you by email to your registered address before or immediately after taking action. The notification will describe the suspected violation, the action taken, and the steps required to resolve the issue and restore service.
Right of Response
Customers have the right to contest enforcement actions they believe were made in error. Disputes should be submitted via a support ticket within 7 days of the enforcement action. Vikalink will review the dispute and respond within 5 business days. Note that this right of response does not apply to accounts terminated for CSAM or terrorism content, where mandatory reporting obligations take precedence.
Data Preservation
For serious violations, Vikalink may preserve account data and logs prior to taking enforcement action. This preserved data may be provided to law enforcement authorities upon receipt of a valid legal request.
Vikalink operates under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Ghana and cooperates with law enforcement agencies in accordance with Ghanaian law, including the Electronic Communications Act 2008 (Act 775), the Cybersecurity Act 2020 (Act 1038), and the Data Protection Act 2012 (Act 843).
Legal Requests
- Vikalink will comply with valid court orders, subpoenas, and official requests from Ghanaian law enforcement authorities.
- Emergency disclosures may be made without a court order where Vikalink reasonably believes there is an imminent risk to life or serious harm to a person.
- Vikalink will notify affected customers of legal requests unless prohibited by the order itself or where notification would compromise an active investigation.
International Cooperation
For violations with an international dimension (e.g., CSAM, transnational cybercrime), Vikalink cooperates with international bodies including CERT-GH, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), NCMEC, ICANN, and relevant foreign law enforcement agencies operating through proper legal channels.
All law enforcement requests must be submitted formally to legal@vikalink.com. Requests submitted through informal channels will not be processed.
Vikalink may update this Acceptable Use Policy at any time to reflect changes in our services, applicable law, or evolving best practices in internet safety and security. When material changes are made, we will:
- Update the Effective Date at the top of this page
- Send an email notification to all registered account holders at least 14 days before the changes take effect
- Display a notice in the client dashboard at dashboard.vikalink.com
Continued use of any Vikalink service after the revised AUP's effective date constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy. If you disagree with a change, you must stop using the relevant services before the effective date and contact us to discuss your options.
Emergency amendments — for example, in response to a newly emerging cyber threat or urgent legal requirement — may take effect immediately and will be communicated as soon as reasonably practicable.
For questions about this AUP, to report a potential violation, or to request a ruling on a specific use case before deploying, please use the appropriate contact channel below.
Registered Address:
Vikalink Domain And Hosting
AD-026-2556, Adjacent Holy Mount Zion Model School
Fawoade New Site, Kumasi, Ashanti Region
Republic of Ghana
This AUP is governed by the laws of the Republic of Ghana and must be read alongside our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.