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Introduction

SFTPlus can connect to any STMP servers and deliver emails based on the activity, actions and events triggered by a file transfer.

With SFTPPlus you can configure the list of recipients (with CC and BCC), email subject and email body.

The email notification can be use for FTPS or SFTP server monitoring and reporting, or just for critical failure/error conditions.

For example, you can trigger an email notification, whenever a SFTP file upload fails on your file transfer service. In this way, you can automatically monitor the server for new files and be notified when you got new files which failed to be fully uploaded.

Operation principles

An Email client resource is created inside the SFTPPlus configuration in order to define the STMP server address, port and credentials.

For each type / category of email notifications, create a separate Send as email event handlers.

Each event handler has a set of filters which determined the condition under which the emails are triggered. For example, you can trigger on all file upload to your site, or only on uploads from a certain user.

Multiple event handlers can use a single email client resource to deliver the emails.

Integration with Email Delivery Services

Using the standard STMP protocol, SFTPPlus can send email alerts using any of the cloud based email delivery services.

If your SFTP server is hosted with Azure, you might want to use the Sendgrid service. For FTP servers hosted with Amazon EC2 you might want to use the Amazon SES service.

Note that for Amazon EC2, port 25 is throttled. You should use port 587 instead.

Check our dedicated documentation page to see how to configure email alerts in SFTPPlus.

This resource is written as of SFTPPlus version 3.44.0.

SFTPPlus MFT bewerten

Die in diesem Artikel aufgeführten Funktionen sind nur einige ausgewählte Funktionen aus vielen heute verfügbaren Integrations- und Konfigurationsoptionen. Sprechen Sie mit dem Support-Team über Ihre Anforderungen an die Datenaustausch-Software.

SFTPPlus MFT Server unterstützt FTP, Explizites FTPS, Implizites FTPS, SFTP, SCP, HTTP und HTTPS.

SFTPPlus MFT ist als On-Premise-Lösung erhältlich, die auf Windows, Linux und macOS unterstützt wird.

Es ist auch in der Cloud als Docker-Container, AWS- oder Azure-Instanzen und viele andere Cloud-Anbieter verfügbar.

Fordern Sie mit dem unten stehenden Formular eine Testversion an.

Email Alerts Services That You Should Use image used in this article was created by Amit Agarwal and is licensed under CC BY 2.0 / Cropped from original.

A brief history of FTP (in)security

The FTP protocol as used today was defined in 1985 (RFC 959) based on a design created in 1971.

It was designed without taking security into consideration. All transmissions are in clear text, including username, password, and actual transferred data. All FTP communication can be easily intercepted by anyone able to capture your local or Internet traffic.

This problem is common to many of the Internet Protocol specifications (Telnet, SMTP, IMAP, etc.) that were designed prior to the creation of encryption mechanisms such as SSL or TLS.

In 1997 (RFC 2228), the FTP protocol was extended, and specifications for using secure connections were set in place. The end result is what is commonly known as the FTPS protocol.

The FTPS protocol is also sometimes referred to as Secure FTP or FTP over SSL. All these names refer to the same protocol extension.

FTPS should not be confused with the SFTP protocol, a secure file transfer subsystem for the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol. FTPS is not compatible with SFTP.

Upgrade the security of your legacy FTP server

With the widespread popularity of wireless networks, it is easier than ever to monitor network traffic. And therefore capture usernames, passwords, and actual data sent over the plain old FTP protocol.

Until recently, in order to secure public FTP servers using TLS you had to buy and manually install an X509 / SSL Certificate from one of the trusted certificate authorities. A certificate was typically valid for 1 or 2 years, and the process of buying, obtaining, and then installing a new certificate was slow and painful, as most steps required manual interventions.

With the creation of the Let's Encrypt certificate authority, you can now automatically get a TLS certificate at no extra cost in a matter of seconds.

By switching to FTPS, usernames, passwords, and actual data transferred by your FTP server are protected using the latest security standard.

Let's Encrypt and FTPS

Let's Encrypt (sometimes shortened as LetsEncrypt) is a certificate authority that provides SSL/X.509 certificates at no charge.

SFTPPlus can automatically and seamlessly request certificates for HTTPS and FTPS file transfer services. You only need to configure the domain name, SFTPPlus will take care of the rest. No need to use external tools like letencrypt.exe copy files in paths like /etc/letsencryt or C:siteswwwroot.

For technical details on Let's Encrypt in general, and on using it with a FTPS server in particular, consult the dedicated article.

If you have decided to use Let's Encrypt, check our dedicated documentation page to see how to enable Let's Encrypt for your FTP server.

This resource is written as of SFTPPlus version 3.43.0.

SFTPPlus MFT bewerten

Die in diesem Artikel aufgeführten Funktionen sind nur einige ausgewählte Funktionen aus vielen heute verfügbaren Integrations- und Konfigurationsoptionen. Sprechen Sie mit dem Support-Team über Ihre Anforderungen an die Datenaustausch-Software.

SFTPPlus MFT Server unterstützt FTP, Explizites FTPS, Implizites FTPS, SFTP, SCP, HTTP und HTTPS.

SFTPPlus MFT ist als On-Premise-Lösung erhältlich, die auf Windows, Linux und macOS unterstützt wird.

Es ist auch in der Cloud als Docker-Container, AWS- oder Azure-Instanzen und viele andere Cloud-Anbieter verfügbar.

Fordern Sie mit dem unten stehenden Formular eine Testversion an.

Introduction

What is Let's Encrypt?

Let's Encrypt (sometimes shortened as LetsEncrypt) is a certificate authority that provides SSL/X.509 certificates at no charge. You can read more on the subject in the Wikipedia article on Let's Encrypt.

A Let's Encrypt certificate is valid for 90 days, but it is recommended to renew it 30 days before expiration.

Certificates are provided using an automated process designed to automate creation, signing, installation, and renewal of certificates for websites in a secure manner.

Only Domain-validated certificates are being issued. Organization-Validated and Extended Validation (EV) Certificates are not available.

How does Let's Encrypt work?

Let's Encrypt uses the Automatic Certificate Management Environment (ACME) protocol.

ACME is a communications protocol for automating interactions between certificate authorities and their users, allowing automated deployments of public key infrastructure (PKI).

SFTPPlus as an ACME client

SFTPPlus implements the client side of the ACME protocol.

It can connect to the Let's Encrypt ACME server, and automatically request SSL/X.509 certificates, free of cost.

To prove that it has administrative rights over a domain, SFTPPlus runs an embedded HTTP server, available over port 80, which implements the HTTP-01 challenge of the ACME protocol.

SFTPPlus can automatically request certificates for HTTPS and FTPS file transfer services, as well as for the Local Manager web console.

The obtained certificates are signed by the Let's Encrypt authority, which is automatically trusted by all modern operating systems. For example, an FTP client using the Windows Certificate Store will automatically accept the certificate used to encrypt a connection to a SFTPPlus server using Let's Encrypt.

All this is done automatically through SFTPPlus' seamless Let's Encrypt integration. You only need to configure the domain name, SFTPPlus will take care of the rest. No need to use external tools like letencrypt.exe, store or copy files in directories like /etc/letsencryt or C:siteswwwroot.

Let's Encrypt and FTPS

While Let's Encrypt was created for HTTPS websites, you can use the same certificate signed by Let's Encrypt's Certificate Authority for FTPS communication.

You can use Let's Encrypt for any secure FTP protocol, be it Explicit FTPS or Implicit FTPS. The certificates can be used over both SSL and TLS, including TLS 1.2.

You still need to have port 80 opened or forwarded to SFTPPlus for the automated certificate generation and renewal.

Check our dedicated documentation page to see how to enable Let's Encrypt for your FTPS server.

This resource is written as of SFTPPlus version 3.42.0.

SFTPPlus MFT bewerten

Die in diesem Artikel aufgeführten Funktionen sind nur einige ausgewählte Funktionen aus vielen heute verfügbaren Integrations- und Konfigurationsoptionen. Sprechen Sie mit dem Support-Team über Ihre Anforderungen an die Datenaustausch-Software.

SFTPPlus MFT Server unterstützt FTP, Explizites FTPS, Implizites FTPS, SFTP, SCP, HTTP und HTTPS.

SFTPPlus MFT ist als On-Premise-Lösung erhältlich, die auf Windows, Linux und macOS unterstützt wird.

Es ist auch in der Cloud als Docker-Container, AWS- oder Azure-Instanzen und viele andere Cloud-Anbieter verfügbar.

Fordern Sie mit dem unten stehenden Formular eine Testversion an.

Introduction

What is business continuity planning (BCP)?

According to Wikipedia, business continuity planning is the process of creating systems of prevention and recovery to deal with potential threats to a company.

Business Continuity Planning also includes these five components as defined by the SANS Institute. These components are:

• Business Resumption Plan
• Occupant Emergency Plan
• Continuity of Operations Plan
• Incident Management Plan
• Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP)

We have decided to provide a high level overview for this article. While secure file transfer is just a component of business continuity planning, it is still an important component of it. We hope that after reading this post, that you also recognize secure file transfers to be part of the Business Continuity Planning process.

Assigning risk ratings

Planning involves conducting a risk assessment of your organization. In this case, planning involves determining what is considered IT risk versus Business risk.

By conducting a risk analysis, you can identify portions of your business resources, identify known risks to these business resources, and assign a risk rating.

According to the Cisco Systems Network Security Policy Best Practices White Paper, the following are rating guidelines based on a three-tier risk level. These are examples from purely a network security level and there are other models and guidelines available that cover a more generalized approach.

The following are excerpts from the above whitepaper:

Low Risk

These are systems or data that if compromised (data viewed by unauthorized personnel, data corrupted, or data lost) would not disrupt the business or cause legal or financial ramifications. The targeted system or data can be easily restored and does not permit further access of other systems.

Medium Risk

These are systems or data that if compromised (data viewed by unauthorized personnel, data corrupted, or data lost) would cause a moderate disruption in the business, minor legal or financial ramifications, or provide further access to other systems. The targeted system or data requires a moderate effort to restore or the restoration process is disruptive to the system.

High Risk

These are systems or data that if compromised (data viewed by unauthorized personnel, data corrupted, or data lost) would cause an extreme disruption in the business, cause major legal or financial ramifications, or threaten the health and safety of a person. The targeted system or data requires significant effort to restore or the restoration process is disruptive to the business or other systems.

From the perspective of secure file transfer, you will need to consider at which level your assets (such as the assets covered in the scope of file transfers) fall under which of these risk categories.

Establishing a business continuity structure / policy

Part of the planning process also involves establishing a business continuity structure.

Having a business continuity policy will require building a team and a governance structure around it. Within the policy, ensure to outline the roles and responsibilities of those that are going to be impacted by this document.

Within the context of secure file transfers, the policy could outline the role of the secure file transfer administrator and to make aware that it is their responsibility to ensure successful Continuity of Operations. In this example, the same administrator could also be the support or testing lead to ensure that the failover file transfer system is tested and verified should there be an issue with the main server.

On that note, for those interested in more details about how SFTPPlus can help administrators meet Continuity of Operations demands, please read our introduction to SFTPPlus and high availability or resiliency environments.

In conclusion, the business continuity policy should ensure that the organization has been provided a general understanding of the policy, purpose, guidelines and definitions around the business continuity plan.

Incident Management and Incident Response

Part of business continuity planning is around incident management and incident response.

What is the relationship between Business Continuity Planning and Incident Management Plan? According to NIST Security Incident Handling guide (the National Institute of Standards and Technology), “organizations should ensure that incident response policies and procedures and business continuity processes are in sync. Computer security incidents undermine the business resilience of an organization. Business continuity planning professionals should be made aware of incidents and their impacts so they can fine-tune business impact assessments, risk assessments, and continuity of operations plans.”

Within the context of secure file transfers, SFTPPlus emits an audit trail for administrators to monitor events and for audit assurance purposes, which can help assist in incident management and response. For further readings about procedures, we recommend the NIST Security Incident Handling guide. Our documentation on the audit trail also provides a useful starting point on how you can administer SFTPPlus to be compliant to your auditing needs.

Implementation

Implementation is the practice stage. The importance of implementation is the prevention of business risk.

The recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO) are baseline data that administrators should be aware of when implementing the business continuity plan.

For example, a secure file transfer administrator can ask themselves questions such as "What is the recovery time actual (RTA) in contrast to the recovery time objective (RTO) for the file transfer application during an actual disaster or exercise?"

The Business Impact Analysis should uncover which systems are mission critical and non-critical, which can further impact the RPO and RTO, as an example. In this example, you may need to ensure an active-active high availability setup is in place with the backup server in the cloud rather than on-premise. In this scenario, you may be targeting 100% Recovery Consistency Objective (RCO) for a business process.

Exercise / Testing / Action

Part of business continuity plan should include a review process to modify the existing policy. This process should be able to adapt to lessons learned - either from an actual disaster event or from an exercise.

The review process ensures that the policy, posture and practices are being re-evaluated accordingly.

The Business Continuity Plan should end up being a dynamic document that can adapt to the constantly changing business and IT environment and needs. This dynamic should also include education and evaluation of staff skills involved.

ISO guidelines for further reading

Continual improvement with your business continuity plan are also covered by guidelines such as ISO 22301 "Societal security -- Business continuity management systems --- Requirements". This guide “specifies requirements to plan, establish, implement, operate, monitor, review, maintain and continually improve a documented management system to protect against, reduce the likelihood of occurrence, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptive incidents when they arise.”

And for those focusing on the information security management system, the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 standard “specifies the requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and continually improving an information security management system within the context of the organization. It also includes requirements for the assessment and treatment of information security risks tailored to the needs of the organization.”

This resource is written as of SFTPPlus version 3.34.1.

The details in this resource is for guidance only. Influences such as own security policies, requirements, and threat models should be considered when adopting this type of guidance.

SFTPPlus MFT bewerten

Die in diesem Artikel aufgeführten Funktionen sind nur einige ausgewählte Funktionen aus vielen heute verfügbaren Integrations- und Konfigurationsoptionen. Sprechen Sie mit dem Support-Team über Ihre Anforderungen an die Datenaustausch-Software.

SFTPPlus MFT Server unterstützt FTP, Explizites FTPS, Implizites FTPS, SFTP, SCP, HTTP und HTTPS.

SFTPPlus MFT ist als On-Premise-Lösung erhältlich, die auf Windows, Linux und macOS unterstützt wird.

Es ist auch in der Cloud als Docker-Container, AWS- oder Azure-Instanzen und viele andere Cloud-Anbieter verfügbar.

Fordern Sie mit dem unten stehenden Formular eine Testversion an.