Answered by the Webhosting Experts

How to Enable Leech Protection in cPanel

What is Leech Protection?

The Leech Protect utility available within cPanel enables administrators to prevent users from publicly disclosing passwords used to access restricted areas of a website. It does this by limiting the number of times a user can log in to these restricted areas. It gives site administrators the capability to redirect accounts to preferred pages, or even suspend specific users, in case of such violations. Admins can set the maximum number of logins according to their preference, but the default value is set to 2 hours. If this limitation is exceeded, the user is assumed to be sharing login details and is redirected or suspended. In this way, leech protection provides additional defenses against a breach into the system.

 

Enabling Leech Protection in cPanel

To enable leech protection, just follow these 6 steps.

  1. First, log in to your cPanel account using your username and password.
  2. Locate the Security menu and click on the icon labelled Leech Protect.

    Screenshot showing the cPanel dashboard highlighting the security menu and the Leech Protect icon

  3. After clicking on the Leech Protect icon, a pop will appear. Select the Document Root of your website, keep the other settings as is, and click GO.

    Leech Protect Directory Selection window

  4. On the next interface, please select the folder you wish to protect by clicking on its name.

    Sample folder tree showing example folders for adding leech protection to

  5. Then, on the next screen, enter the required values and parameters according to your preferences. You’ll have options to select the number of logins allowed per user in a 2-hour period, which URL to redirect suspected leechers to, whether or not you’d like to receive an email notification, and whether or not you’d like to automatically disable suspected accounts.

    Leech Protection options including the number of logins, URL redirection, email alerts, and more

  6. Once you’ve finished making your selections, click the Enable button to finalize your settings.

    Summary screen showing that leech protection has been successfully enabled

And there you have it! Leech protection is active, and suspicious user accounts can be automatically dealt with.

 

Popular Links

Looking for more information on cPanel? Search our Knowledge Base!

Interested in more articles about Control Panels? Navigate to our Categories page using the bar on the left or check out these popular articles:

Popular tags within this category include: cPanel, WHM, Plesk, DirectAdmin, and more.

Don’t see what you’re looking for? Use the search bar at the top to search our entire Knowledge Base.

 

The Hivelocity Difference

Seeking a better Dedicated Server solution? In the market for Private Cloud or Colocation services? Check out Hivelocity’s extensive list of products for great deals and offers.

With best-in-class customer service, affordable pricing, a wide-range of fully-customizable options, and a network like no other, Hivelocity is the hosting solution you’ve been waiting for.

Unsure which of our services is best for your particular needs? Call or live chat with one of our sales agents today and see the difference Hivelocity can make for you.

Need More Personalized Help?

If you have any further issues, questions, or would like some assistance checking on this or anything else, please reach out to us from your my.hivelocity.net account and provide your server credentials within the encrypted field for the best possible security and support.

If you are unable to reach your my.hivelocity.net account or if you are on the go, please reach out from your valid my.hivelocity.net account email to us here at: support@hivelocity.net. We are also available to you through our phone and live chat system 24/7/365.