What is SFTP?????

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Hi all,
I am new in programming and I just joined a company that offers secure file transfer software components. So I firstly want to gather some selective information on why should I use Secure FTP instead of FTP? And why is SFTP better than FTP?
Thanks in advance!
 
Because it's.. secure? :)

I doubt you're actually referring to Secure FTP though, it's very rarely used. There is some confusion about the different alternatives for secure file transfer:

Secure FTP (aka FTP over SSH):
The FTP protocol is tunneled over a SSH connection. A standard FTP client is used with SSH configured as a proxy.

FTPS (aka FTP/SSL):
The FTP protocol is used together with TLS to encrypt the command and/or data channel. FTP client and server needs to support this.

SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol):
Successor to SCP and a completely different protocol than FTP. It multiplexes SFTP commands and multiple data transfers over a single (encrypted) SSH-2 connection.

Advantages that these methods share over regular FTP is that your password can't be intercepted by a man-in-the-middle. In some cases the actual data you're transmitted is also encrypted, preventing it from being intercepted. SSH also features built-in compression that could be interesting in some cases.
 
Hi, first of all congratulation for job. Despite the similarity in name the two protocols are completely different. In FTP all data is passed back and forth between the client and server without the use of encryption. This makes it possible for an eavesdropper to listen in and retrieve your confidential information including login details. With SFTP all the data is encrypted before it is sentient across the network. Hope you will satisfy with my opinions. I wish you for your great career.
All the best!
 
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