Secure File Transfers with SFTP

Published {$created} by Carsten Blum

Many businesses still rely on FTP for file transfer, but this poses significant security risks. While FTPS offers a layer of encryption, SFTP (FTP over SSH) provides a far more robust and modern solution. Moving to SFTP should be the single most important improvement any business using a cloud FTP solution implements.

Plain FTP transmits data, including credentials, in cleartext, making it highly vulnerable to interception and compromise. FTPS attempts to address this with SSL/TLS, but compatibility issues and complex configurations can often lead to misconfiguration and insecure deployments. SFTP, on the other hand, leverages the SSH protocol, a well-vetted and widely respected standard for secure remote access. It inherently encrypts both data and authentication, eliminating the risks inherent in plain FTP and many FTPS setups.

The benefits extend beyond security. SFTP often simplifies deployments and management. Key-based authentication, as detailed in tutorials/advanced-ssh-key-authentication-for-sftp/, offers a more secure and manageable alternative to passwords, eliminating the risk of password-based attacks. At ftpGrid, we strongly recommend using SSH-ED25519 keys for authentication.

For businesses using ftpGrid as a tutorials/ftp-cloud-storage-getting-started/, transitioning to SFTP is straightforward. Our platform fully supports SFTP, offering the security and reliability businesses demand. tutorials/ftp-101-sftp-keys-vs-passwords-security/ provides a more detailed explanation of the advantages of SFTP over traditional password authentication.

Migration Considerations

Migrating from FTP or FTPS to SFTP doesn't require a complete infrastructure overhaul. Existing SFTP clients, such as FileZilla and WinSCP (covered in tutorials/ftp-101-sftp-connection-lftp-winscp/), work seamlessly with our SFTP servers. Simply update your client configuration to use the SFTP protocol (port 22 by default) and configure your SSH key or password. Our tutorials/ftp-cloud-storage-getting-started/ offers a quickstart guide for new users.

Alternatives to Older Protocols

While SFTP is strongly recommended, other protocols are available. However, shifting to SFTP negates many of the vulnerabilities inherent to older protocols like SCP. The fundamental difference between SFTP and SCP is best explained in tutorials/ftp-101-scp-vs-sftp-limitations/.