What is Signed URL?

Signed URL is a method devised to grant access to specific users. Its like giving a pre-authorized URL to a protected resource and anyone having the signed URL can simply browse it to access the resource without any additional authorization as the authorization information is pre-embedded in the URL itself.

Anyone having the URL can access the URL, but in order to enhance the security, time expiry can be setup. This will ensure that the signed URL automatically gets expired after the set time limit. The expiry is set to 15 minutes by default. This allows the controller to control the time window for which the resource can be accessed, example a video ca be viewed, a book can be read online or a free game can be played.

How Signed URL looks? 

  • http://d1vk2xptkdkbf8.cloudfront.net/digiaware.txt ?Expires=1538298438 &Policy=leYnkfeyJTdHJYdfg6858bnQiOlt7IlJlc291cmNlIGYFHD6vL2QxdmsyeHB0a2RrYmY4LmNsb3VkZnJvbHjydbsks785c3QudHh0IiwiQ29uZGl0aW9uIjp7MNBHBsgsfshs7999XNzVGhhbiI6eyJBV1M6RXBvY2hUaW1lIjoxNTMHMJU722749bdgdtX0_ &Signature=NDIxA~ekaS6zbO2cGPP0CdAaNmj-TvsOcL-F5edONfQKxXYYFJMHGfsjkdh68ndyTxdTYo8ThhcFlhJloqdcUIm3DB9Mi-JVZQP7kI9qN0skKGWvNbg2DMVEvxFTYGgwINFJfOm-6Q3fpCpU9p-Nk-HCblpr28puSq8TRer-6gzAxV1PM8VzZC5NHXSkrN58vNNfnt-btKkruVs3ThBVHh6yK1f9sYbzqC3J-6BkKyznYpJJSXZOpchahZ0SnvoY5~OiusCuYK52r874HbAFSM1-KDKLo0628dgjdgdM8wYNph~9zs88~s8JrDVp2Kn-5pLtzpLK5pLT0ydKCTCif9D2awD6Q__ &Key-Pair-Id=JAHD67f6kAPKAIUPZLWMMO3R5EGXA
  • https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zPo692jeTPLb4vIPcTN_fBSE5IYiiSJx/view?usp=sharing

Uses of Signed URL

  • Sharing private content with a limited set of users having the URL
  • Uploading file to a restricted location using a signed URL
  • Providing time limited access to private assets like file/media

 

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