Amazon S3 cloud hosting service is having a security feature of changing permission level for each bucket, folder and files. By using this feature, you can restrict the access of media files like videos, audios and images and you can also control the access to downloadable files hosted on Amazon S3 like PDF, Zipped Files etc.
Note: Amazon S3 is running special offer of free Data-In (Upload)
Why Should You Restrict Access for Files
Reason 1: If you are going to use Signed URLs (Private URL feature) of Amazon S3 files then you will have to restrict the public access of files.
Reason 2: If you are not ready to share the files with other and still working on the next version of file then till that time you can restrict the access of the file.
How To Change Permission Level
- Install Amazon S3 Organizer extension of Firefox
- Add Your Amazon S3 account by providing Access Key and Secret Code
- Right Click on a Bucket, Folder or File and select “Edit ACL”
- There you can see 3 rows and 4 columns for changing the permission level of Read, Write and Full Control
- Click on “Cross” mark to make the file accessible to the concerned category. There are three category for access; Public, Authorized and Owner
- Public means open for everyone including simple visitor of your site. Authorized is for users having S3 account and finally Owner is the account holder who’s Amazon S3 account is used for hosting
- If you want the file accessible to you (the owner) only then the permission level window should look something like this,
In the next post, I will show you how to use Signed URL for secured access and hotlink protection for Amazon S3 files. Post your queries and concern related to Amazon S3 or discuss your experience of using the same.