Learn More About File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Software
What is File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Software?
Organizations have a perennial need to constantly share files or data among employees as well as with external partners, customers, or suppliers. File transfer protocol (FTP) was the standard internet protocol to share files for many years. Secure file transfer protocol (SFTP) and file transfer protocol with support (FTPS) or transport layer security (SSL/TLS) were introduced later as an alternative to FTP software to combat security issues. SFTP, also known as secure shell (SSH) file transfer protocol and FTPS are both secure protocols that provide encrypted file transfers. SFTP is an extension of the SSH protocol, while FTPS simply adds a security layer to the existing FTP protocol.
Companies use FTP software primarily to transfer multiple files or data between a client and server over an established internet connection or transmission control protocol (TCP) network. FTP software is built on a client-server architecture model consisting of an FTP client and an FTP server.
Key Benefits of File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Software
- Enables the transfer of multiple directories at one time with no size limitations
- Offers automatic data backup and disaster recovery features
- Allows file transfers to be scheduled and resumed
- Availability of multiple free open-source FTP software
Why Use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Software?
Large file transfers — FTP software is one of the easiest and quickest ways to transfer large and multiple files at one go as it is able to handle simultaneous transmissions (multi-threaded transfers) with ease.
Ease of use — The software has a user-friendly interface design which it easy and intuitive to use, making file transfer operations efficient.
Operating system (OS) support — FTP software is available on multiple OS. This allows organizations to standardize on a single file transfer client.
Who Uses File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Software?
Companies that require to perform multiple or large file sharing on a daily basis use FTP software. In particular, industries like architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC), transcription services and printing, manufacturing, retail and wholesale distribution, IT consulting, media and marketing, and many more use FTP software. FTP software is typically used by:
AEC industry — The AEC industry uses FTP to share large files in the form of computer-aided design (CAD) and architecture components.
Graphic designers and transcription services — The graphic design industry leverages the offerings of FTP software to facilitate the sharing of large print jobs as there are no file restrictions.
Website designers — Webmasters employ FTP to facilitate the uploading and downloading of files between their computer and their web-hosting servers.
Educational institutions — FTP software helps in the file or data sharing processes for educational institutions who offer various data-oriented internal services for their students and employees.
Medical industry — The automatic backup feature of an FTP software is widely used in the medical industry where patients' information is considered very crucial.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Software Features
Listed below are the main features of File Transfer Protocol (FTP) software:
Synchronize utility — With real-time sync feature, FTP software monitors files and synchronizes them as soon as they are created, updated, or deleted. It works in the background with no user interaction.
Queuing utility — FTP software offers the ability to add items to a queue to be either uploaded or downloaded.
Drag and drop — Drag and drop method within FTP enables users to copy or move files and folders to a new location or even copy a file or an entire folder within the directory in which it resides.
Scheduling — FTP schedulers help in automating file transfers, taking the manual file exchange burden off of individual team members. It helps businesses streamline their file transfer workflows by scheduling a file or directory transfer and allowing file sharing without having to alter work patterns.
File backup and disaster recovery — Disaster recovery ensures files are regularly and automatically backed up to combat the threat of losing data or files due to a natural calamity or power outage.
Data representation — FTP handles three sorts of data representations: ASCII (7 bit), EBCDIC (8-bit), and 8-binary data. The ASCII record is the default position for moving content documents. Each character is encoded using 7-piece ASCII. The sender changes the record from its own representation into ASCII characters and the collector changes the ASCII character to its own representation.
Additionally, SFTP offers some of the following features along with FTP:
File management — SFTP provides a remote file management functionality, allowing applications to resume interrupted file transfers, list the contents of remote directories, and delete remote files.
Encryption — Encryption protects data from eavesdroppers while in transit over the network, while data integrity checks ensure that the transferred data has not been tampered with.
Authentication — An SFTP server requires trading partners to authenticate in two different ways. They may either prove their identity with a user ID and password (this information is encrypted over the SFTP connection and not in plain text) or validate with an SSH key or SSH key and password combination.
Access control — SFTP allows limited user access. It gives select users control over transfer, access, or uploads of new files or dictionaries.
Potential Issues with File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Software
Security — FTP was not built to be secure. It is commonly viewed as an insecure protocol because it relies on clear-text usernames and passwords for authentication and does not use encryption. Files sent via FTP are vulnerable to sniffing, spoofing, and brute force attacks, among other basic attack methods.
Compliance — FTP on its own or using an FTP vendor with inadequate security could leave businesses at risk of noncompliance fines. If compliance regulations like Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA ), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and others apply to a company, it is difficult to find an FTP solution that helps to stay compliant.
Lack of logging and limited reporting — A lot of FTP solutions have an inability to track or are inconsistent in tracking what has been uploaded on the remote system. So, if files are mishandled or a data breach occurs, the sender may struggle to track the source of the problem.
Restricted access — Closely connected to file security is file access. Using old FTP methods make it impossible to know who was accessing files and for what purpose.
Loss of data control — Sharing files via FTP allows little control over the data, files, or both. Once the file is sent, the sender has no control over the file, both in terms of how it is used and who is using it. The sender also loses control over how long the downloaded copy will be kept by the recipient.
