CloudFront Geo Restriction Overview

Geo restriction in CloudFront allows you to control access to your distribution based on the geographic location of the user attempting to access the content. This is particularly useful for adhering to copyright laws and controlling content access globally. Geo restriction can be implemented via two methods: an allowlist and a blocklist.

• Allowlist: Specifies the countries that are permitted to access the content. Users attempting to access from countries not on the list will be blocked.
• Blocklist: Specifies the countries from which access is prohibited. Users attempting to access from these countries will be blocked.

The country of the user is determined using a third-party Geo-IP database, which matches the user's IP address to their respective country.

Setting Up Geographic Restrictions

To enable geographic restrictions in AWS CloudFront, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the CloudFront dashboard and go to the Security section.
2. Find and select CloudFront geographic restrictions.
3. Choose Edit to modify the geographic restriction settings.
4. Decide whether to use an allowlist or a blocklist:
   • For an allowlist, specify the countries that should have access. All other countries will be blocked.
   • For a blocklist, specify the countries that should be blocked. All other countries will have access.
5. After setting up your list, save the changes to apply the geographic restrictions.

Example Configuration:

• Allowlist set for India and United States. Only these countries will be allowed access to the CloudFront distribution; access from all other countries will be blocked.

Summary

CloudFront's geographic restrictions feature is a powerful tool for content distribution control, allowing for compliance with regional copyright laws and customized content delivery strategies. By setting up allowlists or blocklists, content providers can efficiently manage who can access their content based on geographic location.