Amazon CloudFront with Download Protection

JBerg 6 years, 8 months ago

So if it is protected, why can I still play and save the video from this URL?

https://d2yv7j6ywk4uii.cloudfront.net/20-Gothic-Avenue-480p.mp4?Expires=1534797532&Signature=I4HAV5joc15o2BbihXgTASxVSJzAm1XwFUVWbsGOfuFr6XXwSkgxy-FHvmuL9D6BytfxMfl7Ckq9TD1n5~PXWFRwTSVg-sqhy8WdxsPevMKkyq~wjc1yBCyDiCJYDjB9HDogCL9CzpZ~FxiWTFn2ZwtZ-Gk-UEDVHUQLx3KpBT-v72mlVbe56Pkvc3spEIWoOo0TJl0QUVPb8CdxEi3iPgVpEWhJZetJH3GkCGomDvvt6ZMtpAGGbzxSFon4eSCo8vyJ2hZJVaMQ2vLjQdMs7mKDUDIaWzXiu0z-NrkmjYZiXGxqwzxOxL161sURd5LOWZnmUanuXWMwNndSW3~xEg__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIYCF4CZ2SN4VEWXA

I’m thinking about using your tool for a WordPress site, but wanting to protect my videos from off-site viewing and protecting from downloading. Will this tool help me with that?

Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)

Lucia 7 years ago

Hi JBerg!

As you see the video above does not play. Amazon S3 works on the principle of expiring links. You can download the video but after certain preset time limit the link expires and you cant play it anymore.

Have a look at our guide which option suits you the best.

As probably best protection our player currently offers is an encrypted

HLS stream delivered via Amazon CloudFront. A video is very hard to download and even if someone manages to do that, it will require the decryption key even when viewed offline.

If you are worried about screen recording of your videos you can protect your videos with DRM text. This way you can see if someone is using your video.

Protecting video online is non-stop battle. We are now working on even more advanced solution.

Thanks,

Lucia

Adam 7 years ago

I was able to download both videos using a firefox pluggin called video download helper…

Lucia 7 years ago

Hi Adam!

Yes expiring links do not offer 100% protection. It is a barrier from easy download. As online video gets perfected also download tools and piracy gets more advanced. We recommend encrypted streams that can’t be downloaded with automated tools.

Thanks,
Lucia

Jörn 5 years ago

Hi,

when I open the development tools in Google Chrome while the video is streaming and then copy the URL from the video element, I can download the video without any problems. What am I missing?

Thanks for a replay – I intended to use FV Player + Cloudfront to protect videos for an online course I am producing.

best,

Jörn

Juraj Kacaba 5 years ago

Hello Jörn,

As Lucia stated above, using S3 + Cloudfront with expiring links won’t protect the video from being downloaded.

If you want to secure your videos against video downloading software and restrict the access to bare video files via HTML you need to stick to the encrypted HLS streaming. Here’s our guide on AWS MediaConvert integration.

Let us know if you have any questions!

Thanks,
Juraj

Martin 5 years ago

Hello Jörn,

we also finished the first version of a free FV Player Coconut which can be obtained here: https://foliovision.com/downloads/fv-player-coconut

It provides an automated workflow for encrypted HLS streams which cannot be downloaded using the standard browser developer tools or extensions.

It’s a free addon, so you can just log into your exiting foliovision.com account and get it. Note that you have to use the FV Player Pro plugin together with it to be able to get the video encryption features.

In case of any issues please check the documentation here:

1) Setup guide: How to Setup Encrypted HLS with Coconut https://foliovision.com/player/securing-your-video/setup-encrypted-coconut

2) End-user guide: How to encrypt videos directly in WordPress with Coconut https://foliovision.com/player/securing-your-video/encrypt-videos-directly-wordpress

Please let us know if you run into any issue when following our documentation.

Thanks,
Martin

Jörn 5 years ago

Hi Martin,

thanks! I downloaded and installed the Coconut Plugin and entered the domain into your license manager, however, the resulting license key is rejected by the plugin with error message “Invalid license key, plese check your license and re-save the options!”.

Could you help?

Thanks and best,

Jörn

Martin 5 years ago

Hello Jörn,

it’s strange, when you have a moment please install this plugin https://wordpress.org/plugins/log-http-requests/ and then try to remove the license key, save the settings and then put it back in. Finally go o to wp-admin -> Settings -> Log HTTP Requests and look for the license check check HTTP request. It might end up with some error.

Thanks,
Martin

FoxFingers 4 years ago

The video can be download from below URL.
https://video-cdn.foliovision.com/20-Gothic-Avenue-480p.mp4?Key-Pair-Id=APKAIYCF4CZ2SN4VEWXA&Signature=g~Etn~t~L3XrNMqurbpYHNlGAF1iDnw~Zp5eWJs3a9qJbXanl3oc6coQbD-K3DOtImBeOD3hKbQGd5uApeQ7sRzHw9cfz2dhJm3W4SYJUZ2nnk8KrR0wZTzHBKFo26y72x-COLhjfA2u69a4jPgMwkHmyi4LVI6FS3Ruu2-AtOGF6KkykQOduBZ5Kyz-9trQh-eC8VbOIwQlGPRq9bYfXakU6qsqBVwyT2ZXYpgLRKVGXznftNhWbqc7GU-mYLrt4Dq9xrYAg83nDoWqi6w1tZu7GUiWclmQjpfzoPiXdXLdSSKizxxezMuyv5tSVLbSRJJmowwlKLGvRwC8h-6DQg__&Expires=1633590847

So where is the protection?

Mária Stašová 4 years ago

Hello FoxFingers,

as it was already pointed out, this mode of protection is not absolutely secure. It is just another additional method, a barrier making the downloading harder.

It is a rather older technology and as Lucia pointed out, as protection gets better, so do the downloading tools.

We recommend you use encrypted HLS streams. Encryption is currently the strongest download protection method.

Martin and Lucia mentioned several alternative methods in earlier replies to this topic. We have also just finished the new version of FV Player Coconut which makes video encryption so easy, it only takes a couple of clicks right in the media library while writing your post.

Thanks,
Maria

Thanks,
Maria