Hotlinking is a term which identifies the inclusion of images on a particular Internet site via direct links. In case you have site A, for example, and an individual creates website B and wishes to add a few images from your website, they're able to either save the images and then add them on their website or they could simply place links on their Internet site to the images on yours. As a result, when a visitor opens website B, site B will steal traffic from your own site A, because the images will load straight from your website hosting account. This technique is typically used for documents and other types of files also. If you want to prevent third parties from stealing your content and from using your own website hosting account’s resources, you could limit their capability to use direct links to your files on their websites.

Hotlinking Protection in Cloud Hosting

Because our Linux cloud hosting packages feature a simple and practical hotlink protection tool, you'll be able to defend your content from showing on third-party Internet sites with literally just two mouse clicks, even if you do not have much experience with this type of matters. The tool is included with the Hepsia hosting CP and once you open it, you'll only need to select the domain or subdomain which you want to protect. Optionally, you can also choose if the hotlink protection will be enabled for the default domain root folder or only for a subfolder. You will not need to do anything else, because our system shall create an .htaccess file automatically within the needed location and will include the necessary code within it. All sites with active hotlink protection will be listed in exactly the same section, so you may disable this service for any of them with just a click.

Hotlinking Protection in Semi-dedicated Hosting

If you have a semi-dedicated server account with us and you find out that somebody has hotlinked any of your images, you can use the security tool that we have created and included in our in-house built Hepsia hosting CP. Whenever you switch on this function, a server-generated image will appear on the third-party website in place of your real images. You'll only need to check out the Hotlink Protection section in the CP and select the domain or subdomain that your site uses from a convenient drop-down menu - it's as basic as that. If needed, you shall also have the option to switch on the function for a specific subfolder and not for the website in its entirety. Deactivating the function is as simple - get back to exactly the same section, check the box next to the specific website and then press the Delete button.