The act of transferring files between systems may seem to be a rather simple one but is riddled with several risks and conditions that could seriously damage the data that you are transferring or even compromise confidentiality.
With several trillion bytes of files transferred every minute, just over the internet, there is a decent chance of your data getting compromised if you don’t take the necessary precautions.
Transferring files and other important data can be done through a few major ways:
- Local wired networks
- Secondary device
- Local wireless network
- Over the internet
The difference between wired and wireless networks can alter the speed of transfer and sometimes be much safer as wired transfers involve no corruption of data.
However, there are several other benefits which will be discussed below.
When you need help with your file transfer, the simplest thing will always be to look for a safe application to guide you through the process, be it Operating System software or special external software.
In today’s advanced society, most systems are outfitted with several fail safes against data transmission failure. However, despite these fail-safes and countermeasures, there are still hundreds of ways to lose data or have it stolen in the process.
Here are some of the common risks during File Transfer:
- Transferring data through online media or software that uses FTP:
Some suspicious applications and sources may end up taking your important passwords and other details without warning.
File Transfer Protocol ( FTP ) is a rather dated protocol and has been replaced with several newer protocols that encrypt data, something that FTP would not do. This has been replaced in recent years by more advanced technologies like SFTP and Open PGP which provide the required encryption ensuring your passwords and other data aren’t compromised during transfer. A good SFTP server is also scalable for businesses.
- Sending Data through emails:
Oftentimes, e-mail is regarded as a simple means to transfer data over the internet. However, contrary to this, e-mails are one of the more inefficient means of data transfer and can be compromised.
Sending your data through the alternate secured mail would be advised.
- Using your own proxy:
Sticking with using your self-devised proxy might not be a good idea unless you have a great deal of expertise with the technology of reverse proxying and maintaining control of data within your private network.
You could either outsource this work to your IT department or hire an external agency to do this.
- Using free, outdated PC applications:
It might seem easier for you to use and cheaper overall. However, in the long run, the possibility of data loss through the vulnerabilities in these applications make you more than likely to lose a lot more than you could have saved by using such an application.
An alternative to this would be to invest in file transfer software to ensure your information stays safe.
- Lack of internal security Control:
Most places that you think could cause leaks are not the places you should be worried about if your websites and other applications lack internal security. Whether it be customer login portals, user data entry allowed IP addresses and blocking of IP addresses to prevent DDOS attacks and preventing brute force entry, there are many simple places that could lead to a data breach.
Having dedicated cybersecurity and site management teams to deal with these issues will greatly increase your application’s or site’s resistance to threats.
This can also be a threat if you use public networks or those which can be infiltrated.
- Using wireless networks:
Although in most cases this method will seem impossible, wireless networks can be tapped quite easily as compared to wired ones.
When it comes to file transfer over wireless media, an external user can intercept the file and extract your data.
Thus, maintaining a private wired network disconnected from external networks is the ideal network for data transfer, however, such a network will be isolated and cannot gather external data.
Transfer through secondary media, LAN cables or SATA cables are some of the ways to avoid this.
Transferring data is a risky process and can lead to compromise, but if suitable precautions are taken, your transfer will be safe.