Hotlinking is a commonly accepted Internet term for linking to another website’s images. In other words, if you create an Internet site, some other person may want to use the images that you have and rather than downloading them from your website and then uploading them to their own website, they may simply put links straight to your Internet site. This way, every time a visitor opens their site, the images will be loaded from your account, thus stealing from your own monthly traffic quota, not to mention the copyright issues that could arise or that somebody can be trying to deceive people into thinking that they're actually on your site. In rare occasions, documents and other sorts of files may also be linked in the same exact way. To stop this from happening and to avoid such situations, you could permit hotlink protection for your website.
Hotlinking Protection in Shared Web Hosting
It won't require more than a couple of clicks to activate the hotlink security function we offer even if this is the very first website hosting account you use, as all of our Linux shared web hosting plans come with a very simple and easy to work with tool that will permit you to stop direct links to your content. The tool is an element of our advanced Hepsia CP, so it features the same intuitive point-and-click interface. After you log in to your account’s back office and navigate to the Hotlink Protection section, you'll simply need to select the domain or subdomain you want to secure from a drop-down list. If you'd like to switch on this function only for a particular site folder, you've got the option to do that. All sites with active hotlink protection shall appear in this section and you could turn off the service by selecting the checkbox beside the given site and clicking on the Delete button.
Hotlinking Protection in Semi-dedicated Servers
If you have a semi-dedicated server account with us and you notice that someone has hotlinked any of your images, you can use the security tool that we have designed and integrated into our in-house built Hepsia hosting Control Panel. When you activate this function, a server-generated image will appear on the third-party site as a substitute for your real images. You will only have to visit the Hotlink Protection section inside the CP and pick the domain or subdomain that your website uses from a practical drop-down menu - it's as easy as that. When necessary, you shall also have the option to switch on the feature only for a particular subfolder and not for the website altogether. Deactivating the function is equally easy - go back to the exact same section, check the box alongside the specific site and then press the Delete button.