Question

So I am embedding a PDF file on my page:

<embed src="http://www.mywebsite.com/files/ebook.pdf" width="500" height="375">

Is there anyway to prevent any and all access to that file except for when it is being accessed via this embed?

Thanks!

Answer 1

More elegant way would be to prevent access to that file or better directory from .htaccess file and only allow locally. Then your php script will acss the file when you need it. You can also force download from php.

See this for php example.
And your .htaccess file will look like this and will reside in your restricted directory (where pdf is located):

#denies access to all but the allowed IP (presumably yours)
#all other users will be redirected to the ErrorDocument
ErrorDocument 403 http://www.example.com/your-login-page.php
Order deny,allow
Deny from all
Allow from 76.117.227.192

Last line is your IP address (server) or put simply Allow from localhost instead. If somebody else will try to access the directory or files in it, they will be redirected to ttp://www.example.com/your-login-page.php with status code 403 (access forbidden). Good Luck