<p>Securely sharing and synchronizing files across systems is a cornerstone of enterprise IT. Billions of transfers occur daily, involving files of all types, sizes and structures. Because legacy file transfer mechanisms lack built-in security features, organizations use secure file transfer services to ensure their data remains protected as it moves from point A to point B.</p>
<p>Let’s dig deeper into secure file transfer services, leading tools on the market and how to choose the best option for your organization.</p>
<section class=”section main-article-chapter” data-menu-title=”How secure file transfer works”>
<h2 class=”section-title”><i class=”icon” data-icon=”1″></i>How secure file transfer works</h2>
<p>Secure file transfer services all have a common approach to protecting files: <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/access-control”>access control</a>. How access control is achieved varies widely among products, but the basic idea is a shared secret between the sender and the recipient — a hard-to-guess URL transferred via email, a password or integration with an enterprise <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/identity-access-management-IAM-system”>identity and access management</a> system, for instance. This shared secret encrypts the file before transfer, and the recipient’s computer uses the shared secret to decrypt the file.</p>
<p>To satisfy security requirements of today’s enterprises, secure file transfer services need a two-pronged approach:</p>
<ol class=”default-list”>
<li><b>Secure data. </b>The data should have embedded security. <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/encryption”>Encryption</a>, for example, ensures no one else on a network can access, read or modify the contents of a file as it moves between systems.</li>
<li><b>Secure delivery. </b>Secure file transfer involves reliable delivery, such as <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/TCP-IP”>TCP/IP</a>. Secure file transfer services use a variety of protocols and standards, ranging from Secure FTP (<a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchcontentmanagement/definition/Secure-File-Transfer-Protocol-SSH-File-Transfer-Protocol”>SFTP</a>) and Advanced Encryption Standard (<a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/Advanced-Encryption-Standard”>AES</a>) to vendor-specific proprietary protocols.</li>
</ol>
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<section class=”section main-article-chapter” data-menu-title=”Pros and cons of secure file transfer services”>
<h2 class=”section-title”><i class=”icon” data-icon=”1″></i>Pros and cons of secure file transfer services</h2>
<p>Secure file transfer services provide strong security for files and other data, and support compliance requirements such as <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatabackup/feature/Principles-of-the-GDPR-explained”>GDPR</a> and <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/healthtechsecurity/feature/What-is-the-HIPAA-Privacy-Rule”>HIPAA</a>. Services are highly scalable and reliable, making collaboration smoother.</p>
<p>The downside, however, is the technology’s cost and complexity. Security teams often find the service difficult to deploy, experiencing compatibility issues across security protocols and performance issues during large-scale data transfers.</p>
</section>
<section class=”section main-article-chapter” data-menu-title=”Types of secure file transfer services”>
<h2 class=”section-title”><i class=”icon” data-icon=”1″></i>Types of secure file transfer services</h2>
<p>Basic secure file transfer services, such as those based on Secure Copy Protocol (SCP), have command-line interfaces and are best suited for IT rather than end users. They offer few features and are relatively inexpensive compared to other file transfer systems. Some consider this type of transfer advantageous because the organization maintains full control with no third-party — e.g., <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchcloudcomputing/feature/A-cloud-services-cheat-sheet-for-AWS-Azure-and-Google-Cloud”>cloud provider</a> — involvement.</p>
<p>Secure file transfer services based on SFTP are typically more feature-rich than those based on SCP. SFTP-based file transfers often have GUIs available, making them easier to use. However, both SCP- and SFTP-based systems lack many of the features of more sophisticated file transfer systems.</p>
<p>Originally intended for end-user collaboration, <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchstorage/feature/7-cloud-storage-and-file-sharing-services-to-consider”>file hos
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