# Hotlink Protection

**Hotlink Protection** restricts access to your CDN Resource by verifying the **Referer header** in each HTTP request.\
When enabled, it ensures that only requests originating from your allowed domains can retrieve content from your CDN.\
Requests coming from unauthorized sources — such as external websites directly embedding your files — are blocked or redirected automatically.

#### Why Use Hotlink Protection?

Hotlink Protection helps you:

* **Protect bandwidth** – Prevent others from using your CDN capacity to serve their own content.
* **Secure digital assets** – Stop unauthorized sharing or embedding of your hosted media.
* **Reduce server load** – Block high-traffic external sites from consuming resources.
* **Maintain brand control** – Ensure your content appears only on trusted domains.
* **Prevent abuse** – Stop third-party sites from monetizing your media.

#### How Hotlink Protection Works

Hotlink Protection checks the **Referer** field of every HTTP request.\
If the Referer does not match your **whitelisted domain list**, the CDN automatically denies or redirects the request.

<table><thead><tr><th width="243">Action</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Allow</strong></td><td>Serves content when the Referer is from an authorized source.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Block</strong></td><td>Rejects requests from unauthorized sites.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Blacklist</strong></td><td>Denies access specifically to the domains listed in your blacklist.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Redirect</strong></td><td>Sends unauthorized users to a specified page or image.</td></tr></tbody></table>

{% hint style="warning" %}
Add multiple allowed domains to the whitelist for multi-site deployments (e.g., `www.medianova.com`, `cdn.medianova.com`).
{% endhint %}

[<br>](https://clients.medianova.com/products/security/rate-limiting)


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