topic Re: Securely link to PDF files from report using RLS in Service

Securely link to PDF files from report using RLS

puggaard — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 07:18:26 GMT

Hello,

I have a report with row-level security (RLS). Users log in and can only view their own data (accounts). Each user (via email) is associated with specific account numbers allowed by RLS. Below is a simplified model diagram.

Within the report, I display transactions in a table. I’d like to include URLs linked to PDF files describing the status of each unit. Currently, these PDF files reside in a SharePoint folder. It's thousands of PDF files. My challenge is to create secure links to these PDFs, preventing users from altering the URL to access PDFs for other accounts. While obfuscating the UnitID in the URL is an option, it doesn’t provide robust security. Notably, Power BI RLS doesn’t apply to SharePoint folders.

Do you have any suggestions for solving this? Should I explore alternative storage methods (such as a database), or is there a clever approach using Power Apps or something else?... 😊

Thanks,

KR, Peter

Re: Securely link to PDF files from report using RLS

christinepayton — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 21:56:04 GMT

You need to actually set permissions in SharePoint if you want the files to be secure. Files for multiple clients should not be stored in a single SharePoint site, generally, the recommended thing to do is to have one site per external party.

Re: Securely link to PDF files from report using RLS

puggaard — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 11:06:21 GMT

OK, thanks. It makes sense, but it would require a lot of SharePoints sites in this case... I'm no SharePoint expert - therefore, another question in this regards. Can it be done using folders in the same SharePoint site and still be secure? (though it might not be recommended 🙈)