What is FTP?
File Transfer Protocol
The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and data connections between the client and the server.
FTP users may authenticate themselves with a clear-text sign-in protocol, normally in the form of a username and password, but can connect anonymously if the server is configured to allow it. For secure transmission that protects the username and password, and encrypts the content, FTP is often secured with SSL/TLS (FTPS) or replaced with SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP).
FTP Applications
The FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a standard communication tool used for file transfer between the server to a client by using the computer network. In this project, we will analyse three FTP tools which are FileZilla, Cyberduck and WinSCP from the perspective of confidentiality, integrity and availability (CIA).
FileZilla is a free and open-source, cross-platform FTP application, consisting of FileZilla Client and FileZilla Server. Clients are available for Windows, Linux, and macOS, servers are available for Windows only. Both server and client support FTP and FTPS (FTP over SSL/TLS), while the client can in addition connect to SFTP servers.
​
FileZilla is one of the most commonly used Free FTP Application that allows the user to connect and transfer files between their server and the client. They also provide protocol support on commonly used cloud storages such as Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, etc if you purchase the Pro version.
Cyberduck is an open-source client for FTP and SFTP, WebDAV, and cloud storage (OpenStack Swift, Amazon S3, Backblaze B2 and Microsoft Azure), available for macOS and Windows (as of version 4.0) licensed under the GPL. Cyberduck is written in Java and C# using the Cocoa user interface framework on macOS and Windows Forms on Windows. It supports FTP/TLS (FTP secured over SSL/TLS), using AUTH TLS as well as directory synchronization. The user interacts with the user interface (GUI), including file transfer by drag and drop and notifications via Growl. It is also able to open some files in external text editors.
WinSCP (Windows Secure Copy) is a free and open-source SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), WebDAV, Amazon S3, and secure copy protocol (SCP) client for Microsoft Windows. Its main function is secure file transfer between a local computer and a remote server. Beyond this, WinSCP offers basic file manager and file synchronization functionality. For secure transfers, it uses the Secure Shell protocol (SSH) and supports the SCP protocol in addition to SFTP.