Dealing With Network Abuse

• What is the RIPE NCC?
• Finding the Correct Database
• Finding Contacts for an IP Address
• Reporting Network Abuse

What is the RIPE NCC?

The RIPE NCC is a Regional Internet Registry (RIR). We allocate address space to our members, mostly Internet Service Providers. These organisations are responsible for the activities originating from the address space allocated to them. Therefore any concerns or complaints should be directed to them and not to us.

The RIPE Database can help you find out where to send your complaint. It contains details of IP address registrations within our service region. However, the RIPE Database does not contain information on all IP addresses in the world.

We aid operation of the database, but are not responsible for its contents. It is not within the scope of activities set by our membership to check data in the RIPE Database for accuracy.

There are five RIRs that allocate IP addresses to organisations in their service regions and store information about those addresses in their region's database.

Finding the Correct Database

To find the correct database containing information on an IP address, the first thing to do is to find the appropriate allocation block. A list of allocation blocks with the corresponding RIR can be found at:

http://www.iana.org/assignments/ipv4-address-space

For example, if your IP address begins with "193" you should locate this range within the list:

193/8 May 93 RIPE NCC (whois.ripe.net)

In this example you can see that address space beginning with "193" is allocated to the RIPE NCC and therefore you should use the RIPE Database to search for the responsible party.

If the allocated block states: "Various Registries", you will have to search all five RIR databases to find the correct contact information.

The five RIRs are:

• AfriNIC, for Africa.
  (Whois database on 'whois.afrinic.net'; Web interface available.)

• ARIN, for North America.
  (Whois database on 'whois.arin.net'; Web interface available.)

• LACNIC, for South America and the Caribbean
  (Whois database on 'whois.lacnic.net'; Web interface available.)

• RIPE NCC, for Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East
  (Whois database on 'whois.ripe.net'; Web interface available.)

• APNIC, for Asia and the Pacific region
  (Whois database on 'whois.apnic.net'; Web interface available.)

Finding Contacts for an IP Address

To find the contacts responsible for address space that originates within the RIPE NCC service region please use the RIPE Database for example:

Enter the IP address into the search box. The output will list a number of objects. Firstly an inetnum object:

inetnum: 193.0.0.0 - 193.0.1.255
netname: RIPE-NCC
...

The last objects listed will be person or role objects that detail the persons responsible for the administration of the IP addresses. Please check these objects for remarks on who to send e-mails about suspected network abuse. If you are unable to find any remarks please use the e-mail address included within the object. For example:

person:  John Smith
address: Example LTD
         High street 12
         St.Mery Mead
         Essex, UK
phone:   +44 1737 892 004
e-mail:  john.smith@example.com 
nic-hdl: JS9-TEST
mnt-by:  EXAMPLE-MNT
remarks: *******************************
remarks: This object is only an example!
remarks: *******************************
changed: john.smith@example.com 20020827
changed: john.smith@example.com 20020828
source:  TEST 

Please only use the e-mail address specified in the "e-mail" attribute. Do not send mails to the other e-mail addresses within the objects because these e-mail addresses are used for specific purposes in the RIPE Database. Therefore messages may not be forwarded to the correct party.

Please also be aware that the person listed in the object is most likely only an administrator of the organisation responsible for the address range and may not be the individual using the specific IP address. A polite e-mail will be taken far more seriously.

The RIPE Database is a public database that contains registration details for allocated and assigned internet resources in the RIPE NCC service region. IP network operators in our service region enter and maintain the data. We aid operation of the database, but are not responsible for its contents. It is not within the scope of activities set by our membership to check data in the RIPE Database for accuracy. Only the maintainers of objects in the database may make changes to data.