FTP

From OLSEncyclopedia

FTP is an initialism for File Transfer Protocol, which is a method of transferring files across the internet. Typically, one uses FTP to put files (such as web pages, images, and media files) on a web server so that they can be accessed by anyone on the internet. To connect to an FTP server, you must have an FTP client.

There are lots of FTP clients, here is a small list:

• ftp (a general name for a basic command-line client, most operating systems, including Windows, have one such client)
• CuteFTP
• WS_FTP
• FireFTP

Certain WYSIWYG web design programs have FTP clients built in:

• FrontPage
• DreamWeaver

FTP is a plain-text protocol, meaning that any data transmitted from your computer to the server or vice versa can be monitored or intercepted by third parties. This includes such vital data as your username and password. There is an encrypted version of the protocol called Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), where only your client and the server can actually get at the data, and anyone attempting to monitor it can't decrypt it without putting in over 9000 hours of work at cracking the encryption algorithm.