Signed URLs vs. token cookies: a Berlin course platform stops leeching
A video course site protected lessons with per-file signed URLs, each valid 60 minutes. Students loved sharing them — one signed link to a 4K lecture got passed around a Telegram group and pulled 800GB of egress in an afternoon.
Bandwidth that month overran budget by $1,900.
They moved to signed cookies scoped to a path and an IP range: one auth covered the whole course, but the token died if the IP changed mid-session.
Leeched egress dropped 94% because a shared cookie broke the moment it left the buyer's network. Legitimate students never re-authenticated per file.
Signed URLs win for one-off downloads and CDNs without cookie support. Signed cookies win for whole libraries where you want session-wide, IP-bound access.
The number that mattered: $1,900 of leeched bandwidth gone.
Edge of Glory
@EdgeOfGloryCDN
Signed URLs vs. token cookies: a Berlin course platform stops leeching
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