The FTP protocol which all FTP servers and clients use today is based on the document RFC 959, written in 1985, celebrating it's 25th anniversary this year. For those of you who remember 1985 the Internet was akin to a reckless teenager with very little concern for the consequences of it's decisions. There were no viruses, spam or 411 scams and for the few people who were using the Internet protocol security wasn't a major concern.
Fast forward 25 years later and while a lot has changed, as much has stayed the same. Today, security is a major concern. Businesses and consumers alike use the Internet each day to transmit sensitive information and it is the job of so called "hackers" to get at this information. The FTP protocol has matured a bit to meet the needs of security. In 1997, 12 years after RFC 959, RFC 2228 was released. This specification details how FTP user credentials and data can be sent securely over the network using encryption. Prior to RFC 2228, FTP user credentials (username and password) and data (files) were sent over the network in the clear making this information susceptible to interception by a 3rd party. Today, any FTP client or server worth it's weight offers support for RFC 2228, commonly referred to as FTPS (not to be confused with SFTP). Using FTPS you ensure that your data and network credentials are sent over the network securely.
Despite the availability of FTPS, a large number of FTP servers and hosting providers exist today that continue to accept plain FTP connections. This is a very risky practice that has resulted in several data breaches over the years leaking credit card numbers, social security numbers, banking records, health care records and other sensitive information.
In the last few years this risky practice has decreased as large companies become subject to government compliance requirements such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley and PCI-DSS which prohibit the insecure exchange of data. Those companies that continue to use plain FTP are typically small to medium size businesses who have yet to make the switch. MFTExpress makes this switch easy with absolutely no software to install or manage.
MFTExpress has always considered security a top priority offering only secure file transfer protocols and rejecting those sessions that do not use encryption. MFTExpress does this to protect it's customers and their data.
In evaluating FTP hosting companies always verify that they require secure sessions when connecting. This is different than a company who offers secure sessions. FTP hosting companies that offer but do not require secure sessions run the risk of a user using the default FTP client connection settings and connecting using an insecure protocol without the users knowledge. MFTExpress refuses all insecure connections eliminating this risk altogether.
