diff --git a/app/config.py b/app/config.py
index ea736f4..27e7ffb 100644
--- a/app/config.py
+++ b/app/config.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import hashlib
+import hmac
 import os
 import secrets
 from pathlib import Path
@@ -250,3 +251,7 @@ def verify_csrf_token(
             detail=f"The security token has expired, {please_try_again}",
         )
     return None
+
+
+def hmac_sha256():
+    return hmac.new(CONFIG.secret.encode(), digestmod=hashlib.sha256)
diff --git a/app/main.py b/app/main.py
index 058014f..0829167 100644
--- a/app/main.py
+++ b/app/main.py
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ from app import boxes
 from app import config
 from app import httpsig
 from app import indieauth
+from app import media
 from app import micropub
 from app import models
 from app import templates
@@ -1128,14 +1129,17 @@ def _add_cache_control(headers: dict[str, str]) -> dict[str, str]:
     return {**headers, "Cache-Control": "max-age=31536000"}
 
 
-@app.get("/proxy/media/{encoded_url}")
+@app.get("/proxy/media/{exp}/{sig}/{encoded_url}")
 async def serve_proxy_media(
     request: Request,
+    exp: int,
+    sig: str,
     encoded_url: str,
 ) -> StreamingResponse | PlainTextResponse:
     # Decode the base64-encoded URL
     url = base64.urlsafe_b64decode(encoded_url).decode()
     check_url(url)
+    media.verify_proxied_media_sig(exp, url, sig)
 
     proxy_resp = await _proxy_get(request, url, stream=True)
 
@@ -1168,9 +1172,11 @@ async def serve_proxy_media(
     )
 
 
-@app.get("/proxy/media/{encoded_url}/{size}")
+@app.get("/proxy/media/{exp}/{sig}/{encoded_url}/{size}")
 async def serve_proxy_media_resized(
     request: Request,
+    exp: int,
+    sig: str,
     encoded_url: str,
     size: int,
 ) -> PlainTextResponse:
@@ -1180,6 +1186,7 @@ async def serve_proxy_media_resized(
     # Decode the base64-encoded URL
     url = base64.urlsafe_b64decode(encoded_url).decode()
     check_url(url)
+    media.verify_proxied_media_sig(exp, url, sig)
 
     if cached_resp := _RESIZED_CACHE.get((url, size)):
         resized_content, resized_mimetype, resp_headers = cached_resp
diff --git a/app/media.py b/app/media.py
index 6c1f51c..c5638fb 100644
--- a/app/media.py
+++ b/app/media.py
@@ -1,15 +1,40 @@
 import base64
+import time
 
 from app.config import BASE_URL
+from app.config import hmac_sha256
 
 SUPPORTED_RESIZE = [50, 740]
+EXPIRY_PERIOD = 86400
+EXPIRY_LENGTH = 7
+
+
+class InvalidProxySignatureError(Exception):
+    pass
+
+
+def proxied_media_sig(expires: int, url: str) -> str:
+    hm = hmac_sha256()
+    hm.update(f'{expires}'.encode())
+    hm.update(b'|')
+    hm.update(url.encode())
+    return base64.urlsafe_b64encode(hm.digest()).decode()
+
+
+def verify_proxied_media_sig(expires: int, url: str, sig: str) -> None:
+    now = int(time.time() / EXPIRY_PERIOD)
+    expected = proxied_media_sig(expires, url)
+    if now > expires or sig != expected:
+        raise InvalidProxySignatureError("invalid or expired media")
 
 
 def proxied_media_url(url: str) -> str:
     if url.startswith(BASE_URL):
         return url
+    expires = int(time.time() / EXPIRY_PERIOD) + EXPIRY_LENGTH
+    sig = proxied_media_sig(expires, url)
 
-    return BASE_URL + "/proxy/media/" + base64.urlsafe_b64encode(url.encode()).decode()
+    return BASE_URL + f"/proxy/media/{expires}/{sig}/" + base64.urlsafe_b64encode(url.encode()).decode()
 
 
 def resized_media_url(url: str, size: int) -> str:
diff --git a/app/templates.py b/app/templates.py
index bdb6dc5..bc8adbb 100644
--- a/app/templates.py
+++ b/app/templates.py
@@ -60,12 +60,7 @@ def _filter_domain(text: str) -> str:
 def _media_proxy_url(url: str | None) -> str:
     if not url:
         return BASE_URL + "/static/nopic.png"
-
-    if url.startswith(BASE_URL):
-        return url
-
-    encoded_url = base64.urlsafe_b64encode(url.encode()).decode()
-    return BASE_URL + f"/proxy/media/{encoded_url}"
+    return proxied_media_url(url)
 
 
 def is_current_user_admin(request: Request) -> bool: