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How to Protect Your Website from Code Copying and Inspection

January 11, 2025 Blog by syedimranmurtaza32

How to Protect Your Website from Code Copying and Inspection

Website security and content protection are essential for safeguarding your intellectual property. If you want to prevent users from casually inspecting or copying your code, there are techniques you can implement to enhance protection. While these methods can’t guarantee absolute security (since advanced users can still bypass them), they act as a strong deterrent.

1. Preventing Code Copying

To prevent users from copying your website’s content or code, you can use JavaScript to modify the copied content. For example, when someone copies code or text from your site, they will instead paste a custom message of your choice.

Here’s how you can implement this feature:

Code to Replace Copied Content

document.addEventListener("copy", function (event) {
    // Custom message to replace copied content
    const customMessage = "Why're you copying my brother?";
    
    // Set the custom message in the clipboard
    event.clipboardData.setData("text/plain", customMessage);
    event.preventDefault(); // Prevent the default copy action
});

How It Works:

The script listens for the copy event in the browser.
When the user tries to copy any content, the script replaces it with a custom message like “Why’re you copying my brother?”.
The custom message will appear when the user pastes the content anywhere.

2. Blocking Code Inspection

Preventing users from inspecting your website code involves disabling right-click, blocking developer tools (e.g., Ctrl+Shift+I or F12), and restricting access to certain browser functions. Here’s a script that blocks these actions and displays a message when users attempt to inspect the code.

Code to Block Inspection

// Disable right-click
document.addEventListener("contextmenu", function (event) {
    event.preventDefault();
    alert("Why're you trying to inspect my brother?");
});

// Disable certain key combinations
document.addEventListener("keydown", function (event) {
    // Disable F12 (DevTools)
    if (event.key === "F12") {
        event.preventDefault();
        alert("Why're you trying to inspect my brother?");
    }
    // Disable Ctrl+Shift+I (Inspect Element)
    if (event.ctrlKey && event.shiftKey && event.key === "I") {
        event.preventDefault();
        alert("Why're you trying to inspect my brother?");
    }
    // Disable Ctrl+U (View Source)
    if (event.ctrlKey && event.key === "u") {
        event.preventDefault();
        alert("Why're you trying to inspect my brother?");
    }
});

How It Works:

Right-click functionality is disabled to prevent users from accessing the context menu.
Common developer tool shortcuts like F12, Ctrl+Shift+I, and Ctrl+U are blocked.
When users try to perform these actions, an alert message is displayed.

Implementation Steps

Add the scripts to your website’s <head> or <body> section using a <script> tag.
Test the functionality to ensure the scripts are working correctly on all pages.

Important Considerations

Limitations: These scripts only deter casual users. Advanced developers can still bypass these restrictions using alternative methods or browser settings.
Accessibility: Blocking right-click and certain keyboard shortcuts may negatively impact the user experience for some visitors, especially those using accessibility tools.
SEO and UX: Overprotecting your content might frustrate genuine users and affect your website’s usability.

Conclusion

Using JavaScript to protect your website from code copying and inspection is an effective first step to safeguarding your content. While no method can provide absolute security, these deterrents make it significantly harder for users to casually copy or inspect your code. Always balance security with usability to ensure your website remains accessible and user-friendly.

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