In today’s digital landscape, controlling access to your data is crucial. One common requirement is to restrict downloads from an Amazon S3 bucket to specific websites. This ensures that only users accessing content from approved websites can download your files. In this article, we’ll walk you through the steps to set up such restrictions using AWS S3 bucket policies and CloudFront.

Step-by-Step Guide to Restrict Downloads

Step 1: Create an S3 Bucket
  1. Log in to your AWS Management Console and navigate to the S3 service.
  2. Click on “Create bucket” and follow the prompts to set up your bucket. Make sure to select the appropriate region.
Step 2: Configure Bucket Policy

To restrict access, you need to set a bucket policy that allows access only from specific domains.

  1. Go to the Permissions tab in your S3 bucket settings.
  2. Click on “Bucket Policy” and add the following JSON policy. Replace example.com with your allowed domains.

{

    “Version”: “2012-10-17”,

    “Id”: “PolicyForWebsiteReferrer”,

    “Statement”: [

        {

            “Sid”: “AllowGetRequestsFromSpecificWebsite”,

            “Effect”: “Allow”,

            “Principal”: “*”,

            “Action”: “s3:GetObject”,

            “Resource”: “arn:aws:s3:::your-bucket-name/*”,

            “Condition”: {

                “StringLike”: {

                    “aws:Referer”: [

                        “http://example.com/*”,

                        “https://example.com/*”

                    ]

                }

            }

        }

    ]

}

Step 3: Set Up CloudFront Distribution

CloudFront can help you manage and secure your content delivery.

  1. Navigate to the CloudFront service in your AWS Management Console.
  2. Click on “Create Distribution” and choose “Web”.
  3. Configure your distribution by setting your S3 bucket as the origin.
  4. Under “Cache Behavior Settings”, set the “Restrict Viewer Access” to “Yes” and select “Require Signed URLs or Cookies”.
  5. Finish the setup and create the distribution.
Step 4: Generate Signed URLs

To further enhance security, you can generate signed URLs that only allow downloads when accessed through the specified domains.

  1. Create a CloudFront key pair in the AWS Management Console.
  2. Use AWS SDK or a third-party tool to generate signed URLs. The URLs will include parameters that validate the request based on the referrer domain and expiration time.
Step 5: Test Your Configuration

After setting up the bucket policy and CloudFront distribution, test the access by trying to download files from allowed and non-allowed websites to ensure that your restrictions are working correctly.

Additional Security Tips

  • Monitor Access Logs: Regularly review your S3 access logs to detect any unauthorized access attempts.
  • Use HTTPS: Ensure all access to your S3 bucket and CloudFront distribution is over HTTPS to protect data in transit.
  • Update Policies Regularly: Review and update your bucket policies periodically to accommodate any changes in your allowed domains.

By following these steps, you can effectively restrict downloads from your AWS S3 bucket to specific websites, enhancing security and control over your data.