You should be able to lock down the ability to directly link to files like media or PDFs, and yes, storing them "outside" public_html (or whichever) makes sense too, in that way no one can find or access the path to the files if they site outside your public_html, but the Joomla software should have the access e.g. using a download manager (Phoca comes to mind), then the extension has relevant access to produce the links to the files but they can't be directly accessed external to the extension.
Additionally you can use the user management function of Joomla to further lockdown restricted content e.g. allowing only registered users to access the downloads component (be it Phoca or anything else). Having files available for paid/subscribed access is another topic again (but not topic of this thread, just mentioning it for information).
The other way to prevent direct linking (known as hotlinking) is to set up the rules within your .htaccess file. This can typically be configured through a hosting administration utility like cPanel.
You mention it takes some time to download your akeeba backups etc, just wondering then if you can start archiving the oldest of those files on somewhere like GoogleDrive, and issue a shared link (only to your society members) so that only they with the link should be able to open the Google Drive folder. (or use similar function like MS OneDrive, or Amazon or whatever cloud storage you might wish to investigate). I mean, your hosting space won't last forever, and will eventually run out.
Additionally you can use the user management function of Joomla to further lockdown restricted content e.g. allowing only registered users to access the downloads component (be it Phoca or anything else). Having files available for paid/subscribed access is another topic again (but not topic of this thread, just mentioning it for information).
The other way to prevent direct linking (known as hotlinking) is to set up the rules within your .htaccess file. This can typically be configured through a hosting administration utility like cPanel.
You mention it takes some time to download your akeeba backups etc, just wondering then if you can start archiving the oldest of those files on somewhere like GoogleDrive, and issue a shared link (only to your society members) so that only they with the link should be able to open the Google Drive folder. (or use similar function like MS OneDrive, or Amazon or whatever cloud storage you might wish to investigate). I mean, your hosting space won't last forever, and will eventually run out.
Statistics: Posted by AMurray — Tue Jun 11, 2024 9:37 am