Hotlinking is a common issue many website owners face, leading to unauthorized usage of their website resources such as images, videos, and other media files. This not only consumes your server bandwidth but also affects your website’s performance. To prevent this, cPanel provides a built-in Hotlink Protection feature that restricts external websites from directly linking to your media files. In this guide, we will walk you through the steps to enable and configure Hotlink Protection in cPanel to safeguard your website’s resources.
What is Hotlink Protection?
It is a security feature that prevents other websites from embedding or using your media files directly. When enabled, it ensures that only your domain and specified domains can access and display your website’s images, videos, or other files. This helps in saving bandwidth, improving website loading speed, and protecting your content from unauthorized use.
Steps to Enable Hotlink Protection in cPanel
Follow the steps below to enable it and secure your website’s media files from unauthorized usage.
Step 1: Log in to cPanel
To begin, log in to your cPanel account using your username and password.
Once logged in, scroll down to the Security section and click on Hotlink Protection.
Step 3: Configure Hotlink Protection
Upon opening the hotlink settings, you will see an interface where you can configure the allowed and blocked URLs.
Step 4: Add Allowed Domains
In the URLs to allow access field, enter your domain and any additional trusted domains that should be permitted to use your media files.
Step 5: Block Specific File Types
Under the Block direct access for the following extensions section, specify the file types (such as .jpg, .png, .mp4, etc.) that you want to protect from hotlinking. Ensure you separate each extension with a comma.
Step 6: Enable Hotlink Protection
Finally, click on the Enable button to activate Hotlink Protection. Once enabled, your website’s media files will be protected from external linking.
Conclusion
By enabling Hotlink Protection in cPanel, you can prevent unauthorized websites from using your media files, ensuring better resource management and website performance. This simple yet effective feature helps conserve bandwidth and secure your content from misuse.
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