blank referrers and hotlink protection

[zodiac]

I heard that if you install hotlink protection taht some firewalls or anti virus programs will delete the page information sent by the web browsers so you should allow blank referrers to visit those sites... first off how can i test if my hotlink protection is doing that and second how can i fix it if I need too

 

[Azmeen]

I heard that if you install hotlink protection taht some firewalls or anti virus programs will delete the page information sent by the web browsers so you should allow blank referrers to visit those sites... first off how can i test if my hotlink protection is doing that and second how can i fix it if I need too

In my experience, the onus is on the user to decide on the security vs convenience argument. The way hotlink protection works is simple:

1. Check the referring web site
2. If same as hosting domain, allow the download
3. If different from hosting domain, forward to an error page

Users who use poorly designed/configured "internet protection" applications would not reveal the referring web site data (among others). Honestly, this has little real life security implications on the client side. What's guaranteed though, are minor irritations such as inability to download certain files and/or view images.

Users who have basic understanding on how such security apps work will know how to configure the application to accept your web site (a.k.a whitelisting it).

Essentially, there's nothing to fix on your side. It's entirely up to your visitors to tweak their security application settings.

 

[zodiac]

cool, thanks for the answer. I appreciate it.

Zod