Any organization that exchanges sensitive files with another party through the internet or any wide area network should carry out those exchanges through some form of secure file transfer software. At a minimum, secure file transfer software helps ensure that your data reaches its intended destination intact and unaltered. More advanced solutions offer additional benefits as well.
In this post, we’ll go over each major benefit your business stands to gain from the moment you decide to course your data transfers through a secure file transfer solution. In addition, we’ll briefly discuss the different types of software that fall under this category and what we recommend you use. But first, let’s talk about how a secure file transfer works.
Secure file transfer software relies on a selection of security controls to keep sensitive information safe from accidental mishandling and deliberate cyberattacks. These controls, which enable you to transfer files in a secure manner, typically include the following basic functionality:
When a user or application connects to your file transfer solution, you’ll want to verify the identity of that entity before granting it file access. You wouldn’t want an unauthorized individual or worse, a hacker, to get hold of your files.
To limit access to legitimate users, secure file transfer tools use authentication methods like password-based authentication and public key authentication. Unless the requesting entity can submit the right credentials, the authentication mechanism will deny access.
As soon as files leave your network, they become exposed to various forms of man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks. An MITM attacker can intercept your connection and attempt to steal any sensitive information transmitted through it. However, not all connections are highly vulnerable to MITM attacks. Only those connections that send data in plaintext are.
To protect data from MITM attacks, secure file transfer software employs cryptographic protocols like Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS), Secure Shell (SSH) and other similar mechanisms that encrypt data while in transit. Encryption prevents attackers from making sense of intercepted data, thereby rendering the interception useless.
While authentication is an effective access control mechanism, many secure file transfer software solutions augment it with other access controls to make it even more difficult for unauthorized entities to reach your systems. For instance, some solutions employ IP-based access to limit access to inbound connections originating from recognized IP addresses and IP address ranges.
Other solutions allow you to set various permissions like read, write, delete and so on, to limit what users can do once they’ve been granted access. By implementing these restrictions, you can prevent users from performing actions beyond the scope of their duties, which might lead to accidental file deletion or deliberate data theft.
Whenever something goes wrong during a file transfer, you should find out what happened, why it happened and in some cases, who can be held accountable. This information can help you resolve the issue and prevent it from recurring. Secure file transfer solutions provide this information along with other relevant data through audit logs.
These basic controls are just some of the security mechanisms that come into play in secure file transfers. Combined with other controls like data-at-rest encryption, malware detection, data loss prevention (DLP), high availability and others, these mechanisms enable you to carry out data transfers that meet the demands of business environments. In the next section, we’ll finally talk about the business benefits of using secure file transfer software.
As business processes become increasingly digitized, more sensitive data is being incorporated into intra- and inter-organizational file transfer and file-sharing workflows. This has given rise to threat actors who seek to exploit vulnerabilities in these workflows in order to steal or tamper with certain types of data for financial gain.
The security controls in secure file sharing/file transfer software make it difficult for threat actors to carry out attacks against your workflows. The use of strong encryption, for example, can make data theft attempts economically infeasible. This can only reduce risk in your file transfer activities while improving your organization’s overall cybersecurity posture.
Many businesses operating in certain industries and jurisdictions are often subject to data privacy/data protection laws and regulations. For example, in the United States healthcare industry, covered entities are governed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). In the European Union, companies must adhere to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In many places worldwide, companies that process credit card data must comply with requirements laid out by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
These laws and regulations usually impose onerous compliance requirements, which organizations must meet to avoid hefty fines and penalties. The controls in secure file transfer software enable you to tick off some of the checkboxes required for compliance. And, the more security features a solution has, the more requirements you’ll be able to meet.
Business process automation saves time, increases efficiency and improves your overall productivity by streamlining processes and removing manual tasks. Some elements of automation even allow you to respond to requests or accomplish tasks in near real-time. However, automated processes must be protected. If the data being processed is tampered with, stolen or corrupted, other processes down the line can be adversely affected. And if this happens, your automation initiatives will do more harm than good.
Since file transfers are integral to almost any business-to-business (B2B) process, secure file transfer software can play a key role in preserving the integrity of these processes. The protection it provides ensures that your data and your automated business processes remain pristine, reliable and actually contributory to business operations.
Secure file transfers can be carried out through a variety of methods. In this section, we’ll briefly discuss the different types of software that allow you to perform these tasks.
One option is to use email solutions that support end-to-end encryption and other security controls. Your users can attach files to an email and send them to their intended recipients. Most users are already familiar with the user interface of email apps, so onboarding new users to a secure email solution shouldn’t be a challenge.
That said, email solutions aren’t suitable for automated business processes, as emails are normally sent manually. Also, they’re not very capable of supporting large files. The moment your file size reaches north of a hundred megabytes, your email server might no longer allow you to attach your file.
Another option is to use cloud-based file synchronization and file-sharing services like Dropbox and Google Drive. These solutions are generally user-friendly and allow you to upload larger file sizes than email servers do. You can upload your files to the service and furnish your recipient with a download link. Many of these services use Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), so your uploads and downloads are protected by SSL/TLS.
Just be aware that this option can be slow, at least compared to the next option we’re about to discuss. That’s because you need to upload your files to the service first, and then your recipient will have to download them. The total distance traveled by your files can be substantial, thereby causing some level of delay in your file transfer process.
File transfer servers are designed specifically to transfer files, so this category of solutions is a logical choice for accomplishing the task at hand. However, since security is one of your major requirements, you should limit your file transfer servers to those that support secure file transfer protocols like Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) and File Transfer Protocol Secure (FTPS). Protocols like SFTP and FTPS already support authentication and data-in-transit encryption.
When you and/or the other party use an on-premises secure file transfer server(s), the path of your files is going to be shorter than if those files were routed through a cloud-based service. Hence, all things being equal, the transfer time is going to be quicker.
Recommended reading: What is the fastest way to transfer large files over the Internet?
The capabilities of dedicated secure file transfer servers like FTPS and SFTP servers are enough if all you need is a solution for transferring files in a secure manner. That said, many businesses do have certain data transfer-related needs that go beyond just security.
What if you want these servers to support your business process automation initiatives? What if you transact with multiple trading partners and these partners use different file transfer protocols? What if you want to incorporate high availability in your file transfer processes? What if you need to support electronic data interchange (EDI)?
You’ll be better equipped to meet these specific needs with a managed file transfer (MFT) solution.
An MFT solution is like a file transfer server on steroids. To begin with, it has a broader and more advanced selection of security controls than your average secure file transfer tool. For instance, in addition to the security controls discussed earlier, a secure managed file transfer solution like JSCAPE MFT by Redwood may also offer the following security features:
JSCAPE MFT is equipped with low-code/no-code automation features that enable you to automate various file transfer workflows with just a few clicks. Moreover, it readily integrates with other systems in your IT infrastructure through its application programming interface (API) and wide selection of connectors.
While traditional file transfer servers only support a single file transfer protocol, e.g., FTPS or SFTP, MFT servers support a wide range of protocols. JSCAPE MFT Server, for instance, supports SFTP, FTPS, AS2, OFTP, HTTPS, WebDAV and others. The ability to support multiple protocols will make it easy for you to interoperate with your trading partners regardless of their protocol preferences.
JSCAPE MFT Server, the on-premises version of JSCAPE MFT, runs on all major operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Linux, UNIX and macOS. This platform independence capability simplifies installation, deployment and integration efforts since it ensures compatibility with your existing IT infrastructure.
JSCAPE MFT is also offered under a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model through what’s known as MFTaaS (MFT-as-a-Service). Because it’s SaaS, you don’t have to worry about installation, deployment and maintenance. Offered through flexible pricing schemes with minimal CAPEX requirements, JSCAPE MFTaaS is perfect for organizations looking to adopt an automation-ready secure file transfer solution with the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO).
Gain first-hand experience in implementing simple, automated and secure file transfers. Schedule a quick JSCAPE MFT demo now.
SFTP is a file transfer protocol that obtains its security features from Secure Shell (SSH). It’s essentially part of SSH, which is why SFTP also stands for SSH File Transfer Protocol. SFTP is equipped with data-in-transit encryption, strong authentication or two-factor authentication, client authentication, host authentication and data integrity capabilities. For a more detailed discussion on SFTP and how it compares with MFT, read our article on SFTP vs MFT.
FTPS, which stands for File Transfer Protocol Secure, is another secure file transfer protocol that has capabilities similar to SFTP. It’s essentially an advanced version of File Transfer Protocol (FTP) that derives its security functions from SSL/TLS, which is why it’s also known as FTP-SSL. For a more detailed discussion on FTPS and how it compares with FTP and SFTP, read our article: Understanding Key Differences Between FTP, FTPS And SFTP.
Using an MFT solution is arguably the most secure way to transfer files. In addition to the basic security functions found in traditional secure file transfer servers, MFT solutions come with additional security controls. The wide array of security features found in MFT solutions enables you to take a defense-in-depth approach to secure file transfers. More importantly, you’re able to institute this multi-layered approach to security without having to purchase other security tools. The security features are already baked into the MFT solution itself.
As mentioned earlier, MFT solutions are equipped with an array of security features. This allows you to meet several compliance requirements. But that’s not all.
Data protection laws and regulations call for more stringent security measures to mitigate the risk of data breaches. For instance, PCI DSS explicitly requires the use of strong encryption, not just any level of encryption. This means you can’t just employ, say, SSL/TLS and then call it a day. As per PCI DSSv4.0, the ciphers and key lengths you use in your SSL/TLS implementation must have a minimum effective key strength of 128 bits.
While many traditional file transfer servers allow you to make configuration changes to meet compliance requirements, the process of doing so can be pretty complex. In most cases, you’ll have to go to the command line, make changes to the configuration files, or integrate third-party tools. With MFT solutions, you can institute changes with just a few clicks. For instance, this post shows some examples demonstrating how easy it is to enable AES-256 encryption on JSCAPE MFT Server.