Why You Need Password-Protected Links

Password-protected links provide an added layer of security that you may need when sharing specific types of content. Privacy and security are essential for the healthcare, telecommunications, and finance industries. But whether you’re sharing sensitive information or providing exclusive access to a new product or promotional campaign, password-protected links are a powerful tool for safeguarding important or sensitive information.

We’re excited to share that Rebrandly now offers password-protected links starting from our Essentials plan.

Read on to learn more about password-protected links.

What are password protected links?

Password-protected links require a user to enter a password or authentication code to access the content or destination URL. This adds an additional layer of security to shared links, ensuring that only authorized individuals can access sensitive information. These links are particularly useful for sharing confidential or sensitive data, such as financial information, personal data, or proprietary content. By implementing password protection, you can safeguard your data and ensure it is only accessed by those with the necessary permissions.

Benefits of password protection

Password protection offers several significant benefits:

• Granular control: You can control who accesses your shared links and sensitive information.
• Additional layer of security: Adding a password to your links provides an extra layer of protection, making it more challenging for unauthorized individuals to access sensitive information.
• Sensitive data protection: Password protection helps safeguard sensitive data, such as financial information or personal data, from unauthorized access.
• Secure sharing: It enables secure sharing of links and sensitive information within and outside your organization.
• Compliance: Password protection can help your organization comply with data protection regulations and industry standards, such as GDPR and HIPAA.

By using password-protected links, you can ensure that your sensitive information is protected and only accessed by authorized individuals, providing peace of mind and enhanced security for your data.

​​Use cases for password-protected links

Here are some of the most important use cases for password-protected links:

Marketing

Password protection is a powerful tool to create exclusive content accessible only to a specific audience, such as subscribers, members, or clients.

This can benefit businesses, organizations, or creators who want to offer special privileges or restrict access to valuable resources. In other cases, you may simply want to limit access to a page while it’s a work in progress and remove the password protection when it is ready to be launched.

Rebrandly also provides analytics and tracking features, allowing you to monitor who has clicked the link and when. This visibility can be particularly valuable for businesses and content creators who want to track engagement, measure the success of their campaigns, or gather data on user behavior through a secure link.

Compliance with Sensitive Information

For some industries, such as healthcare, password protection ensures that only patients access their medical information, thus maintaining privacy and complying with HIPAA regulations.

In the heavily regulated financial services industry, password-protected links offer a way to protect specific data and comply with local legislation and regulators. For example, a business may need to restrict access to certain material based on individual or group specifications such as geography, ensuring that content is only available to individuals in specific locations.

Additionally, the concept of a secret link hint can enhance security by allowing users to provide hints for their passwords, aiding in the recovery or remembering of the correct password for accessing encrypted links securely. By recognizing these unique requirements and utilizing password-protected links, businesses can safeguard sensitive data, meet compliance standards, and provide targeted access to valuable resources.

Avoiding Spam

Password protection helps to prevent unauthorized users or bots from crawling or indexing your company’s web pages. Decrypting URLs can prevent unauthorized access by requiring passwords to unlock sensitive information, ensuring users maintain control over their data.

Password protection also helps protect against malicious activities, such as data scraping, content theft, or spamming. When you combine password protection with Rebrandly, you’ll be able to shorten long, spammy-looking links with your own branded links and increase open rates with a link users can trust.

How to Create Password-Protected Links

Create secure links with Rebrandly using either of these options:

• API Integration: Generate protected links programmatically by including your chosen password in the API request parameters.
• Web Interface: Set up link security directly through your account dashboard by enabling the password protection feature during the creation process.

Creating Password-Protected Links in Your Dashboard

1. Navigate to the links tab and start by entering your destination URL
2. Configure your link settings:
   • Select your domain
   • Customize the slash tag
   • Toggle on password protection
3. Set up your password:
   • Enter your chosen password
   • Confirm the password
4. Click “Create link” to save your settings

Managing Password Protection

The lock icon shows your link’s protection status:

• Closed lock: Password protection is active
• Open lock: Link is publicly accessible

To modify password settings:

1. Click the closed lock to change or remove the password
2. Click the open lock to add password protection

Important Note: Removing password protection will:

• Make your link publicly accessible
• Reset all previously collected statistics
• Cannot be undone

Password changes will preserve your existing statistics.

Tips on Choosing Secure Passwords

Passwords don’t have to be so long that you always forget them, but they should be secure. We recommend following these guidelines to ensure their security.

• Use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.
• Avoid using easily guessable information such as your name, birthdate, or common words.
• Implement a unique password for each password-protected URL or page.
• Consider using a password manager tool like 1password to store and generate strong passwords securely.
• Do not use sequential characters (e.g., “1234”) or repeated characters (e.g., “aaaa”).
• Knowledge-based authentication (KBA), such as “What was the name of your first pet?”, should not be used.
• Passwords should not have hints.

Get started with password protected links

Password-protected links are potent tools that offer many mission-critical benefits. From safeguarding sensitive information and providing exclusive access to valuable content to enhancing security measures and simplifying link sharing, these practices contribute to a safer and more efficient online experience. By implementing password protection and leveraging link-shortening services, individuals and businesses can maintain privacy, control access, and ensure the integrity of their digital assets.

You can learn more about Rebrandly password-protected links here.