By Hugh Garber -

A fellow FTPplanet reader just sent me this link to Greg Ashbaugh’s blog about his blog backup strategy.
Words of wisdom: “This backup strategy has helped me more than once. I’ve seen people lose years worth of data because their database gets corrupt. Imagine years worth of blogging, and it’s all gone with no backup. That would be a tough reality, so don’t let it happen to your site”.
Definitely check out this short and insightful read! Here’s a short excerpt from the plan — “I use a program called WS_FTP to copy all the live files off my host into a folder for blog backup”.

By Hugh Garber -

Here’s a great story about four aspiring students who have plans to make a splash in the Film industry. Their grant sounds like a great opportunity…. and I love how they are solving their long-distance problems with secure FTPS. (FTPS is encrypted file transfer over the SSL protocol).
“One of the main challenges the filmmakers say they face is working through distance. We’re doing this over the Internet, which created some issues…. But we’re getting over them through using FTPS. As each filmmaker finishes a part of the film — whether it be animatics, flash, or part of the script — they put their files on a server for a limited amount of time so the others can go online, take a look, and make notes.”
Great luck with the film!

By Hugh Garber -

A recent InfoWorld study on perceptions and strategies on data protection showed that the top security threats for their organizations as:
* 66% – Outside attacks to harvest data
* 60% – Exposing sensitive data or files to unauthorized users
* 59% – Accidental loss of employee data
For those of you near New York, check out InfoWorld’s Enterprise Data Protection Forum on June 26th at the Le Parker Meridien hotel: Learn about “best practices and strategies to combat security threats and protect data”. Sounds like a very interesting event!

By Hugh Garber -

I’ve seen lots of swirl about people experiencing slow transfer speeds using CuteFTP. Here’s a comment from a longtime CuteFTP customer who just switched due to poor performance: “Over the last few months I’ve noticed a marked decrease in upload performance…. I downloaded Fetch last night, and uploaded a software update to my website with it and I was amazed at how quickly Fetch completed the operation in comparison to CuteFTP”
A few people have emailed me asking for a recommendation on what file transfer client delivers the fastest transfer speeds.
My recommendation is simple (and you can give ‘em a try for free):
* Mac: Fetch
* Windows: WS_FTP

By Hugh Garber -

Ipswitch has released a new version of WS_FTP Server. There are now two versions of their secure file transfer server available:
• WS_FTP Server
• WS_FTP Server 6 with SSH
I love the new web-based administration … and from a security perspective, 256-bit AES encryption over SSL, SSH, FTPS & SFTP protocols and SHA-512 file integrity are stronger than any other file transfer server on the market.
The best part is that the encryption strength of WS_FTP Server now matches the encryption strength of the WS_FTP Professional file transfer client so using the two components together will ensure you’re getting the strongest security available.
You can see a ton of screenshots and download a free 30-day trial.
I also saw a few juicy promotions on their website:
• Buy two licenses of WS_FTP Server 6 and save $295
• Buy two licenses of WS_FTP Server 6 with SSH and save $795
• Buy any WS_FTP server product (including buying an upgrade to the new release) and get a FREE license of my favorite file transfer client, WS_FTP Professional
Release highlights include:
• Faster FTP transfers and improved scalability
• Transfer files over FTP, SSL & SSH protocols
• Industry-leading 256-bit AES encryption
• Uncompromised file integrity with SHA-512
• High availability architecture for clustering & load balancing
• Stronger password policies including auto-expiration
• Customizable logging of transfers and admin activity
You should definitely give the new WS_FTP Server a try if you manage your own secure file transfer server. Give the 30-day trial a whirl.

By Hugh Garber -

I can’t seem to avoid the security theme these days. Everywhere I look its security, security and more security. Security of storing data. Security of moving files. Security of sharing documents. Anyways, here are a few interesting tidbits from Amplitude Research’s fourth annual enterprise security survey:
* There is growing use of secure file transfers in security conscious organizations.
* 31% of responding system and network administrators said that “Secure File Transfer” ranked as one of their three top issues in 2007 (up from 13% in 2006).
* 68% said that their organizations require a secure file transfer method when exchanging sensitive data between remote offices (up from 52% last year).
* 75% said their enterprises are using a secure method of file transfer when exchanging sensitive data with customers, vendors and suppliers (up from 60% a year ago).

By Erik Small -

Here’s a post from a web designer, Lillian. She also learned the importance of backing up website files early on from past experience. She used WS_FTP Professional.
I got my first own domain in 2003 and it was the first time I need to use FTP to upload stuffs to create my website. It was my friend, Johannes who gave me the link to Ipswitch’s WS_FTP to do the downloading. As we are from different states, I have difficulties understanding how to do it. On my first try, I uploaded the files into the wrong folder and accidentally deleted the whole site. LOL, back then, I was using Dreamweaver and did not know much about the importance of public.html and the file index.html. So, I dropped my files into the wrong place and wipe out the index.html file……
For full article, click here:
http://www.5xmom.com/index.php/2007/06/06/my-first-experience-with-ftp/

By Hugh Garber -

Ipswitch has posted a “sneak peek” at the upcoming release of WS_FTP Server 6 with SSH.
You can enter your email address in the “let me know” form to be notified when the new product launches and is available for trial and purchase.
The new web administration looks fantastic! It’s a great facelift from the previous version of the product. And new encryption strength and file integrity match that found in WS_FTP Pro and are the strongest you’ll find anywhere.
Other release highlights include:
- Faster FTP transfers and improved scalability
- Transfer files over FTP, SSL & SSH protocols
- Industry-leading 256-bit AES encryption
- Uncompromised file integrity with SHA-512
- High availability architecture for clustering & load balancing
- Stronger password policies including auto-expiration
- Customizable logging of transfers and admin activity

By Erik Small -

Blogger Denise Grier, who manages the Internet Marketing Review blog, dropped a nice note about WS_FTP Professional & it’s backup functionality:
I discovered this great tool, WS_FTP Professional, for backing up documents and files. And the best part is that you can Get a Free Download of WS_FTP Professional to try out before you buy. I love it companies do this. It makes me know that they are very confident in their product when they offer to let you try it out for free.
Ipswitch’s WS_FTP Professional has the ability to safely backup critical files to prevent data loss, and the backup function can be used to safely archive web site files for safekeeping. So what are you waiting for? Download a Free Trial Now!
http://internetmarketingreview.org/blog/2007/06/06/free-trial-of-backup-software/

By Hugh Garber -

I find myself blogging a lot about security these days. My posts usually focus on securing files and data by using the built-in encryption found in SSL or SSH transfer protocol.
Truth is, there are pitfalls associated with everyday email usage as well. Here’s a great blog post on www.EmailTide.com that highlights a few examples of personal information being leaked in email, including human error and identity theft.
The EmailTide blog post ends with a GREAT question:
“Why does it always take the occurrence of a serious incident before businesses take action? Companies should actively protect themselves and their employees from such mistakes…. The costs associated with one single error can easily outweigh the cost of a preventative solution.”

By Hugh Garber -

Here are a few excerpts from the article “Transfer files securely with SFTP” that I found over at Linux.com. The same underlying principle that FTP usage is evolving to more secure file transfer protocols such as SFTP certainly holds true for Windows PCs as well….
“File Transfer Protocol (FTP) was once the most widely used protocol for transferring files between computers. However, because FTP sends authentication information and file contents over the wire unencrypted, it’s not a secure way to communicate. The more robust SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) address this security concern by providing data transfer over a fully encrypted channel. You can use SFTP to transferring files securely over the Internet or any other untrusted network.
SFTP is a full-fledged file transfer protocol that implements all the operations found in FTP. SFTP runs as an SSH subsystem and works on standard SSH port 22 by default. It alleviates the need to open multiple additional ports on the firewall as in the case of FTP, where ports 20 and 21 need to be opened up for control and data traffic.”