So what exactly is Secure FTP?

I’ve been working on a network appliance that’s based on linux recently, and one of the options for moving files on and off the system is secure FTP. I use standard FTP all the time, but wasn’t familiar with the”secure” version. I jump online and start looking for the port for secure FTP. Guess what, it turns out that it isn’t necessarily what it sounds like.

There are all kinds of FTP variations, all designed to provide some kind of security to file transfers. Much of the confusion arises from similar naming.

SFTP (SSH FTP) This is what is meant when most people refer to Secure FTP. This should not be interpreted as FTP over SSH, as it is a different protocol. SSH FTP uses Port 22.

FTPS (FTP over SSL) uses SSL/TLS for security. It runs over the regular port 21 and uses encryption. Sometimes referred to as Secure FTP though not as often.

 

So, as long as we’re now clear on SFTP, Secure FTP, SSH FTP,FTP over SSH, and FTPS, Don’t forget about these two:

Simple FTP (Simple File Transfer Protocol)

TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol)

 

I like to use Smart FTP for my file transfer needs, though it isn’t free anymore. It works well with Citrix Netscaler and VMware ESX servers.

 

References

Wikipedia - FTP

Wikipedia -SSH FTP

winscp protocol comparison