FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is the standard for transferring files from the early days of the Internet. The most striking feature was that independent of the FTP operating system. Files easily between Unix, Windows and other operating systems will be transferred. The other property ordered via FTP is a simple authentication mechanism consisting of a username and password can restrict access to files. However, the data itself was transferred in clear text, and it was easy to see and listen to an FTP connection.

The Internet itself was quite insignificant integrated security. Composed of many small, independent networks, which had stretched around the world, the way a package of information to was unpredictable from point A to point B. With the wide spread of the Internet, it is necessary to many types of sensitive data with a certain level to be sent to security. Netscape Communications has solved the problem of Internet security through the creation of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption uses a public key to encrypt data transmitted over the Internet. It is still the preferred security mechanism and is implemented by all Web browsers.

FTPS Encrypted File Transfer FTP
changes were released in order to integrate the use of SSL for encrypting file transfers over the Internet. The amendment process is called FTPS. To maintain backward compatibility with FTP, FTPS connection can be either explicit, where is the link between the client and the server starts with regular FTP and then acts on a secure server, or implicitly when the connection begins to be encrypted.

HTTPS Encrypted File Transfer
Since a web browser is already encrypted in the position data with SSL, easy downloads and uploads can be performed directly from a Web browser using the HTTPS protocol. This means that the FTP client will not be necessary.

SFTP Encrypted File Transfer Secure Shell SSH even when it was developed by Tatu Ylonen to enable secure remote access using public key cryptography and replaces Telnet mussels and other shells of uncertainty. This protocol was developed to also as the support of a file transfer mechanism known as SFTP. The main advantage of this mechanism is that it does not require opening a data connection from the second channel to transfer files.

All three methods of secure file transfer based on public keys and all are also capable of transferring sensitive files over the Internet. The only disadvantage of these methods is that it involves an increase of data with file encryption. There is also a performance overhead with encryption of files, the source and the target associated to decipher. For this reason, system administrators sometimes use regular FTP for file transfers in a secure internal network. However, the transfer of files over the Internet is a small price for peace of mind is to pay that sensitive files reach their destination without been intercepted or tampered with.


Secure FTP