SynergyCP Abuse Reports Package#

About#

The Abuse Reports package turns the abuse mailbox for your network into a ticket-style queue inside SynergyCP. It reads every email that arrives in a mailbox you designate (over IMAP), finds the IP address the complaint is about, matches that address to the server and client that hold it, and opens an Abuse Report that both your administrators and the affected client can see, discuss, and resolve from the panel.

Abuse reports come from many sources — spam blocklists, copyright holders, security researchers, other networks’ abuse desks — and most of them arrive as email. Handling that mailbox by hand means reading each message, looking up who has the IP, forwarding it, and chasing the customer for a response. This package automates the lookup and the hand-off, keeps the conversation attached to the report, and can suspend servers whose owners ignore reports for too long.

Features#

  • Automatic import from a mailbox — a scheduled sync (every 5 minutes by default) fetches new messages over IMAP, creates reports, and moves processed messages to an archive folder.
  • IP matching to servers and clients — IP addresses are read from machine-readable attachments (XARF JSON, XML) or scraped from the subject and body, then matched to the IP entity, server, and client in SynergyCP. Optionally, domain names in emails that contain no IP address are resolved via DNS.
  • Admin queue with status tracking — reports are grouped into Waiting on ADMIN, Waiting on CLIENT, Unknown (no client could be identified), and Archive, with search, sorting, and bulk actions.
  • Client self-service — clients see the reports for their own servers under Network > Abuse Reports in the client portal, with Unanswered and Answered tabs, and can reply directly from the panel.
  • Threaded comments — admins and clients exchange comments on each report; every comment flips the report’s status to the other party and is logged.
  • Email notifications — clients are emailed when a report is assigned to their server and when an admin comments. Each client can set a dedicated abuse contact address or opt out of notifications.
  • Automatic suspension — servers whose reports go unanswered for a configurable number of days are suspended, with a daily warning email beforehand. VIP clients are exempt.
  • Server page panel — a Server Abuse panel on every server’s page (admin and client) lists that server’s reports.
  • Logging and housekeeping — report activity is written to the SynergyCP logs, and resolved reports are purged a month after resolution.

How a report moves through the system#

  1. An abuse email arrives in the mailbox configured in System > Settings > Abuse Reports.
  2. The next sync reads it, extracts the reported IP address(es), and looks each one up. One report is created per IP per email. See How emails are processed for the exact rules.
  3. If the IP belongs to a server assigned to a client, the report is linked to that server and client, its status becomes Waiting on CLIENT, and the client receives an “Abuse Report Received” email (if enabled). Otherwise the report lands in Unknown for an admin to assign by hand.
  4. The client reads the report in the client portal and replies with a comment. The status flips to Waiting on ADMIN.
  5. An admin reviews the reply. Commenting back flips the status to Waiting on CLIENT again and emails the client. When the matter is settled, the admin clicks Mark Resolved and the report moves to Archive.
  6. If a report stays in Waiting on CLIENT for longer than the configured Auto Suspension period, the server is suspended automatically. See Automatic suspension.

The processed email itself is moved out of the inbox into the archive folder, so the mailbox doubles as a complete record of everything received.

Requirements#

  • SynergyCP 5.4.0 or newer.
  • A mailbox that receives your abuse email and is reachable over IMAP with SSL on port 993. Gmail / Google Workspace and standard IMAP servers are both supported.
  • Outgoing email configured in SynergyCP (see Email Sending) if you want clients to be notified.

In this section#

  • Setup — prepare the mailbox, enter the settings, grant permissions, and run a first sync.
  • How emails are processed — how IP addresses are found, matched, and turned into reports.
  • Managing reports — the admin queue, the client portal, comments, assignment, and bulk actions.
  • Automatic suspension — warnings, suspension, and exemptions.
  • Troubleshooting — reading the sync log and fixing common problems.
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