is there way to protect flv videos from hotlinking?

[Phil]

Anything out there that works against Turks and Chinese guys hotlinking your flv files?

[madm1k3]

bump, i'm interested too.

[fris]

http://trafficguardian.com/

[Phil]

does it work for flash files? looks like htaccess thing. I can do that myself.

[SmokeyTheBear]

i have a simple method that will also generate revenue without having to alter existing links/code much.

Most flv players will also play playlists even if the extension is flv. using playlists you can insert ads or promo clips after or before the video.

example

lets say your flvs are in http://mysite.com/videos/sample1.flv

and your embed code is like http://mysite.com/myplayer.swf?file=...os/sample1.flv

first change the flv folder to "secret"

then remake the flv folder and drop in this htaccess

RewriteEngine on

 RewriteRule ^(.*)\.flv index.php?x=$1 [nc]

then make an index.php and place the following inside it ( dynamic playlist creator )

<?php

header('Cache-Control: no-cache, must-revalidate');

header('Content-type: video/x-ms-asf');

$x = $_GET['x'];


?>

<asx version="3.0">

	<title>title</title>



	<entry>

		<title>title</title>



		<author>SmokeyTheBear</author>

		<abstract>Hello World</abstract>

		<moreinfo href="http://sponsorlink.com" />

		<ref href="http://mysite.com/secret/<?php echo $x; ?>.flv" />

    

	</entry>



	<entry>

		<title>an ad after the video</title>



		<author>SmokeyTheBear</author>

		<abstract>Hello World</abstract>

		<moreinfo href="http://sponsorlink.com" />

		<ref href="http://mysite.com/promoclip.flv" />

    

	</entry>



</asx>

so now when they hotlink your flv they will be hotlinking your playlist with ad and promoclip

now lets say they are smart and read the playlist to find the secret flv folder, no problem , just rename the master flv folder and change the path in the index.php in one simple place every so often and they will be thwarted.

[munki]

Originally Posted by SmokeyTheBear

i have a simple method that will also generate revenue without having to alter existing links/code much.

Most flv players will also play playlists even if the extension is flv. using playlists you can insert ads or promo clips after or before the video.

example

lets say your flvs are in http://mysite.com/videos/sample1.flv

and your embed code is like http://mysite.com/myplayer.swf?file=...os/sample1.flv

first change the flv folder to "secret"

then remake the flv folder and drop in this htaccess

RewriteEngine on

 RewriteRule ^(.*)\.flv index.php?x=$1 [nc]

then make an index.php and place the following inside it ( dynamic playlist creator )

<?php

header('Cache-Control: no-cache, must-revalidate');

header('Content-type: video/x-ms-asf');

$x = $_GET['x'];


?>

<asx version="3.0">

	<title>title</title>



	<entry>

		<title>title</title>



		<author>SmokeyTheBear</author>

		<abstract>Hello World</abstract>

		<moreinfo href="http://sponsorlink.com" />

		<ref href="http://mysite.com/secret/<?php echo $x; ?>.flv" />

    

	</entry>



	<entry>

		<title>an ad after the video</title>



		<author>SmokeyTheBear</author>

		<abstract>Hello World</abstract>

		<moreinfo href="http://sponsorlink.com" />

		<ref href="http://mysite.com/promoclip.flv" />

    

	</entry>



</asx>

so now when they hotlink your flv they will be hotlinking your playlist with ad and promoclip

now lets say they are smart and read the playlist to find the secret flv folder, no problem , just rename the master flv folder and change the path in the index.php in one simple place every so often and they will be thwarted.

thexiness

[d-null]

nice technique and very well explained Smokey

[SmokeyTheBear]

what i do is go one step further and instead of using the flv url in the embed code you just use a simple dynamic swf url

so instead of adding all your params to the swf flv player in the embed code like logo=&link=&file=

you just use <embed src=http://mysite.com/swf/1789234.swf>

the swf folder uses htacces to run thru a php script the php script checks referrer and only makes the asx file if the swf is hotlinked ( so you can display different/more/less ads when they are on your site compared to when someone hotlinks or uses the embed code ) , plus you can have super short embed codes instead of long ones

[st0ned]

Great information Smokey. Thanks for sharing!

[quantum-x]

Or, use a combination of ModSecURL + referrer blocking.

#1 - ModSecURL creates rolling URLS that change every X minutes. Even if people spread your links, the links die after X minutes.

#2 - All flash players (ALL) send referrer information. You can simply use .htaccess to whitelist certain domains / urls.

[Davy]

Google gives no results for modsecurl.
What's the real name for this extension?

[quantum-x]

Sorry, mod_sec I believe

[seeandsee]

we need security expert to make something

[fris]

Originally Posted by CAMOKAT

does it work for flash files? looks like htaccess thing. I can do that myself.

its an apache module, dosnt work the same as htaccess