By Hugh Garber -

As you can tell from a slew of my previous blog posts, there is indeed life beyond FTP.
Sure, FTP is everywhere (literally and figuratively)…. But security concerns as well as business emphasis on manageability, confidentiality, integrity, availability, compliance, auditing, etc have brought along a new breed of file transfer solutions that deliver more robust and system-wide solutions for business and enterprise organizations.
Some of those new security and feature capabilities have made their way into file transfer clients (my recommended one being WS_FTP Professional)…. And many more into the server side of things.
Anyways, here’s an interesting article from IndustryWeek that highlights some perspectives on Managed File Transfer solutions. Enjoy the read!

By Hugh Garber -

FTP Hosting services are great for people who don’t have access to a server to store their files on. Basically, the service provides online storage on a hosted server. You basically rent space on their remote server.
Here’s a nice overview on some of the details of FTP Hosting services. The article also touches on the inefficiencies and security concerns with relying on email to transfer and share files.
It is important to note that you will also need file transfer client software to transfer files from your computer to the hosted server. The linked article recommends a few of the usual suspects, including my favorite, WS_FTP Professional.
“WS FTP – as file transfer client software, it is the most popular. With the help of this secure software, you can quickly and easily manage all the digital information. It helps to compress files into .zip format during file transfer. It guarantees security of data with the help of 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) keys and SSL transfers.“

By Erik Small -

FTPplanet often talks about data breaches and the importance of setting up a plan before a breach happens and especially after a breach is exposed. It’s a hot topic in the market of data transfer and file encryption. Here’s a follow-up article in SC Magazine to Hannaford’s data breach and what measures they have taken to avoid a security breach again.
http://www.scmagazineus.com/After-breach-Hannaford-details-IT-security-remodel/article/109341/
Data breaches hit hard for larger organizations and not necessarily affect home file transfer users, but many of us here at FTPplanet feel it’s important to stay on top of the latest trends and issues hitting the file transfer market in the business world.

By Erik Small -

Don’t Forget – A free live webinar is taking place today with STORES Magazine. The webinar focuses on these critical questions:
– Who has access to your sensitive files and data?
– What is the impact if your sensitive company information is
compromised?
– When and what is the information being exchanged?
– Where and to whom is your data being sent?
– Why would you let employees/partners share your files over insecure FTP, email or IM?
– How does regulatory compliance affect the way your data needs to be handled and audited?
Register on the Ipswitch File Transfer website now:
http://www.ipswitchft.com

By Hugh Garber -

Data Breaches…. Securing Private Information…. Compliance Requirements.
These are important topics that I’ve been blogging about for a while now and I’m looking forward to listening to this Thursday’s webinar titled “Will Your Business Be the Next Data Breach Headline?“…. And I thought some other FTPplanet readers would be interested in attending as well.
Here are the webinar details:

Topic: Will Your Business be the Next Data Breach Headline?
Date: Thursday, April 24, 2008
Time: 12:00 p.m. EDT
Moderator:
Rick Gallagher, Publisher, STORES Magazine and LPinformation
Speakers:
Dr. David Taylor, CISSP, Research Director, PCI Security Vendor
Alliance and the Founder of the PCI Knowledge Base
Kevin Gillis, VP Product Management,
File Transfer Division, Ipswitch, Inc.
PCI Security Standards Council Member

Come join me in listening to a star-studded cast of industry experts highlight some of the recent data breaches and provide some recommendations on how to help prevent your business from becoming the next data breach headline.
Sign-up for the webinar and reserve your spot

By Hugh Garber -

Here are some great insights from Justin Gerharter on the need for strong passwords. Seems he recently upgraded his file transfer server to one that includes encrypted protocols, extensive logging and probably a slew of other secure file transfer administrative controls.
Here’s what he saw when poking into the log data:
“I thought it would be entertaining to review the logs from the weekend to see what kind of shenanigans went on with it over the last few days. Of course there were attempts to access it by three or four different IP addresses.
The entertaining part was the usernames they attempted. There where the usual suspects like root, admin, test, guest, anonymous, etc. How about “bitch” for a username? Gee… I wonder what the password would be for that user? What about CyberJohn? Is that the nickname of Eliot Spitzer? I realize that these were automated attempts but come on. Bitch? Seriously? In case you are wondering the password for bitch was sonofa. You’d think after the 50th time of getting “connection denied by client IP” their automated attempts would be smart enough to stop but they weren’t.
The one thing the log review did enlighten me to was the need for complex usernames as well as complex passwords. Kind of scary how close a couple of the attempts were to actual user names.”
Justin’s last comments are VERY important and it brings us back to my recent ranting about the need to use strong passwords, whether or not required by the server administrator or not. Just do it!

By Erik Small -

For all the procrastinators compiling their tax returns today — good luck!
Tax season reminds us of the importance of data protection, as personal information is shared between various parties. Tax documents need to be shared with your accountant….should it be sent through email, fax, hand-delivered? Transfering files through a secure file transfer process is a good option. The importance of file security applies not only to everyone’s annual April 15 deadline, but throughout the year when dealing with personal banking, healthcare records, mortgage or loan approvals, etc.
Continue to check-in with FTPplanet for a daily dose of file transfer news, help and easy-to-use Discussion Forums.

By Erik Small -

There’s a special promotion running on the WS_FTP website for 20% off a single license of WS_FTP Home. This includes 1-year of full technical support and automatic updates. Be sure to use the link on the right side of the page labeled: “Special Limited Time Offer”.
Happy Friday from FTPplanet!
http://wsftp.com/products/ws_ftp_home/

By Erik Small -

Here’s a nice blog post from Melissa A. on her use of WS_FTP. Thanks for sharing Melissa!
“I used Ipswitch’s WS_FTP to upload my files to my Boston College FTP/Web space.WS_FTP can connect to any system that has a valid Internet Address and contains an FTP server program, allowing you to transfer files between a wide variety of systems, including Windows, OS/2, and UNIX systems. FTP allows the fastest and safest means of file transfers on the Internet. When you use FTP to download files from an FTP site, you are actually running an FTP client (such as WS_FTP) on your PC.FTP site (definition)An FTP site consists of an FTP server program located on an Internet host computer. WS_FTP provides a number of popular FTP sites that have already been configured for you. When you connect to an FTP site like this, look for a file called readme, readme.txt, index, or 00index. Such files provide descriptions of the resources available on the site as well as other useful information.· File repositories where you can place files for use by others. It took me a while to actually get the hang of the whole process but eventually I was able to get through it.”
http://melyayalabc.blogspot.com/2008/04/ftp.html

By Hugh Garber -

I just read a creepy article by PC World about an identified website that sells stolen credit card information.
According to cyber sleuthound security firm Finjan. “Prices ranged from US$38 for small volumes of premium card numbers, down to $10 for the equivalent low-limit cards in chunks of 100 at a time. Criminals worried about being stung themselves by non-working cards were being offered “guarantees” as well as trial data sets… The site, which appears to use Google’s Blogspot service, is typical of a number of portals promoting the exchange of fraudulent card data.”
If the name Finjan rings a bell it may be because I blogged about them a few weeks ago when they reported a similar website that was selling valid FTP server logins from companies around the globe.
A quick message to the fine folks at Finjan — Keep up the great detective work. Your efforts to pursue & track cyber-crime is helping to raise awareness of the risks associated with being online… Thank you.
Hopefully this blog post reinforces my continued message to always take security precautions when using the Internet, whether you are surfing, buying stuff or moving files and data. There are very bad people out there would love to steal your personal information and identity.
Surf safely everyone!