One of the worst things that can happen to a webmaster is the loss of their bandwidth due to thieves. Most webmasters are given a limit, or quota, in regards to how much bandwidth they can use.
When someone else links directly to an image or other large file that you host, you lose bandwidth to people who aren’t even visiting your site directly. So, there’s nothing you can do, right? Wrong.
Enter hotlink protection, and it’s a breeze with Cpanel. To set it up, simply click on the “Hotlink Protection” icon, which you’ll find in your Cpanel main menu. You can set up an alternate image to be sent, which could be something like “Stealing Bandwidth is Wrong,” to discourage fellow webmasters from hotlinking to you.
What you’ll need to do to accomplish this is to post the image on an external site such as PhotoBucket, because once hotlink protection is enabled, no images will be served unless people visit your site normally.
If you would like to allow certain domains, such as other sites you host, to hotlink to your site, you will be given a chance to enter those sites. Then, enter the URL of the alternate image that you’d like to use. Finally, click on “activate.” Assuming that everything was done correctly, you will see a message informing you that your hotlink protection is active.