If you send sensitive data over the network, you might want to consider the SFTP protocol for securing data.




SFTP creates an encrypted tunnel between two computer systems and protects against the following attacks:

IP spoofing, where a remote host sends out packets that pretend to come from a trusted host
IP source routing, where a host can pretend that an IP packet comes from another trusted host
DNS spoofing, where an attacker forges the name server records
Interception of cleartext passwords and other data by intermediate hosts
Manipulation of data by attackers in control of intermediate hosts

SFTP uses a combination of asymmetric cryptology and symmetric cryptology to provide a strong encryption and optimal performance.  

SFTP is supported by most commercial servers and many open source servers, for example, Linux.  SFTP can be used for transmitting large files because SFTP compresses the data stream prior to encryption.

Managed File Transfer implements the most current SSH 2.0 protocol standard.