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September 28, 2007
CHMOD to change file permissions
CHMOD is an abbreviated phrase that stands for "Change Mode", and it allows you to change the permissions of a particular file. For example, it lets the owner of a file specify who can upload, download or execute that particular file.
Here's a online tutorial created by Anidan Design, a website design and graphic services company. The tutorial shows how to use the CHMOD capability of the WS_FTP Professional secure file transfer client.
Posted by Hugh Garber at 07:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack digg this add to del.icio.us add to My Web Furl this page
September 26, 2007
WS_FTP runs on Vista
Hey all -- I've received a few emails recently asking if the WS_FTP Professional and WS_FTP Home file transfer clients were Vista compatible.
The answer: Hell yeah!
I believe that Ipswitch release the Vista versions 3-4 months ago so anyone downloading either a 30-day evaluation or a purchased copy will automatically get the software version that can be run on the vista operating system.
I noticed a 20% discount off of a single-license of WS_FTP Professional (with Service Agreement) listed on www.ipswitch.com.... I hear rumblings about an updated version of WS_FTP coming in a few months so it might make sense for you to spend a few extra bucks on the Service Agreement now so that you can get the updated version for free when it's released.
Posted by Hugh Garber at 07:58 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack digg this add to del.icio.us add to My Web Furl this page
September 25, 2007
Homeland (In) Security
The latest announcement from Homeland Security regarding their data breach is getting a lot of attention. If you haven't read about it, here it is from ZDNet:
Unisys Probed for Homeland Security Breach
The announcement is critical of the government contractor Unisys, which claims they hastily certified the Homeland Security computer networks as secure, but the network has experienced large-scale breaches stemming from China. To make the situation worse, Unisys may have tried to put a cover-up scheme together.
If you're a security engineer, does this story resonate for you? Anyone have experience or workplace situations to share? Tell us about it here at FTPplanet!
Posted by Erik Small at 11:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack digg this add to del.icio.us add to My Web Furl this page
September 24, 2007
Laughably Bad Tech Ads
I thought we'd start the week off with a laugh. Check out CNET's top-ten laughable bad technology advertisements. Hope you enjoy, and happy Monday!
* You gotta love the "Steve Ballmer sells Windows 1.0" -- Absolutely priceless!
* "Don't copy that floppy" -- The precursor to P2P and sharing music/videos....
* My favorite quote: "Upgrade to MS-DOS 5 and make DOS applications come alive". Try singing THAT ten times fast without laughing!
* Check out the size of the mobile phone from the old Slimtel ad by British Telecom. Wow, just wow.
* Am I the only one that LOVED the old Atari Pole Position commercial? I'm gonna go watch that one again....
Posted by Hugh Garber at 07:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack digg this add to del.icio.us add to My Web Furl this page
September 21, 2007
Security Tips for Webmasters - SSH & SFTP
Google's Webmaster Central Blog just posted a nice checklist for webmasters to help verify key security measures.
It mentions the need for secure data transfers, which is possible with SSH and SFTP connection protocols.
- Use secure protocols.
"SSH and SFTP should be used for data transfer, rather than plain text protocols such as telnet or FTP. SSH and SFTP use encryption and are much safer."
Read full blog post here:
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/09/quick-security-checklist-for-webmasters.html
If you're interested in learning more about SSH and SFTP, our parent company Ipswitch, has a some nice whitepapers and an on-demand webinar with in-depth details on the topic of secure file transfer, including secure protocols such as SSL & SSH.
http://www.ipswitch.com/products/ws_ftp-server/index.asp?t=whitepapers
Posted by Erik Small at 08:27 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack digg this add to del.icio.us add to My Web Furl this page
September 20, 2007
Pfizer Confirms Third Breach
Well, here's the story of yet another data breach. Healthcare giant Pfizer announced its third (yes, THIRD!) breach involving employee data.
"Pfizer Inc. appears to be having an especially hard time of late keeping its employee data secure. The company today confirmed that as many as 34,000 of its employees may be at risk of identity theft after a former employee illegally accessed and download copies of confidential information from a Pfizer computer system without the company’s knowledge. The compromised information included, names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, phone numbers and bank and credit card information."
I believe that it is the obligation of a company to protect the confidentiality and privacy of customer & employee data at all times. A big part of this responsibility is to ensure that files and data are secured and only authorized people have access to it.
On an FTP server, this job falls to the network administer who can set up specific permissions to allow certain people to access certain folders and data (and thus blocking everyone else from accessing that same data).
After all, how would you feel if your social security number, bank account and credit card number were stolen? I know that identity theft scares the $hit out of me!
Posted by Hugh Garber at 07:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack digg this add to del.icio.us add to My Web Furl this page
September 19, 2007
Ipswitch Expands Managed File Transfer Development
FTPPlanet's parent company, Ipswitch Inc., released a big announcement about moving further into the 'managed file transfer' space.
New development by the company will expand the WS_FTP software which boasts features like 256-bit AES transfer encryption, SSL and SSH support and SHA512 file integrity verification.
Kevin Gillis, VP at Ipswitch, quoted: "Managed file transfer is poised to become the next breakthrough technology to help enterprises lock down their file transfer infrastructure against the threats posed by hackers, data thieves and criminals both online and off."
This is a really fantastic step and 'graduation' into bigger file transfer solutions where Ipswitch can work with any size company with varying degrees of data security initiatives.
Check out the full Market Wire article on Ipswitch's Managed File Transfer announcement:
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=770860&sourceType=1
Posted by Erik Small at 08:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack digg this add to del.icio.us add to My Web Furl this page
September 18, 2007
Got Questions?
One of the most helpful sections of the FTPplanet website is our discussion forums. File transfer newbies and experts are welcome to visit the forums and ask questions and give their thoughts and advise on others questions.
Here's an example of a recent question that was posted on the FTPplanet discussion forums: "Hi. I am an owner of a website that is soon to be hosted. The Hostess's requirements include a knowledge of FTP. I was wondering if anyone could explain what FTP is for dummies, or people that have never understood it."
Please do check out the discussion forums. There is a link to the forums in the top right corner of the FTPplanet homepage under the "Quick Links" section.
Posted by Hugh Garber at 07:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack digg this add to del.icio.us add to My Web Furl this page
September 17, 2007
Google Plug-in Cars
A bit off-FTP-topic to start the week, but some interesting press from Google caught my eye over the weekend. Google.org is the philanthropic arm of the technology behemoth and recently announced a $10 million incentive for new ideas on how to mass produce 'plug-in' cars.
A Network World article shares some details on the announcement.
Take a look at the full article!
Here's an excerpt:
“We need catalytic investments to support technologies, products and services that are critical to accelerating plug-in vehicle commercialization,” the company wrote on its Web site.
Here at FTPPlanet, we also support our parent organization, Ipswitch, Inc., which is very active in philanthropic support for our community. Check out iCare @ Ipswitch to learn more about how Ipswitch gives back to the community.
Posted by Erik Small at 11:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack digg this add to del.icio.us add to My Web Furl this page
September 13, 2007
FTP error message 503
When connecting to an FTP server, a common error message is '503 Login error' or 'invalid password'. This can be a simple yet frustrating message for what should be a simple login function.
If you're having trouble getting past this error message, here are a few easy checks:
- Ensure password is typed as case-sensitive. Is your caps lock on?
- Verify user name and password is typed exactly (sorry, I know this one is obvious).
- Remove any spaces in user name and password -- check if a space is secretly placed as a last character after the user name or password.
Posted by Erik Small at 11:21 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack digg this add to del.icio.us add to My Web Furl this page
September 12, 2007
What is FTPplanet?
What is FTPplanet all about?
Well, here's what Burv's Head had to say:
"I read the beginner’s guide to FTP at www.ftpplanet.com. The site explained what file transfer protocol is, how it works, and even shows the new user a simulated FTP session in a FTP client. I was able to send a picture of a previous screen shot I had saved in my documents to the required address in no time at all. FTP is a secure, easy way to transfer files to and from your computer via a host page that allows you to organize and save your files."
I think that this quote does a great job as summarizing what we try to do here at FTPplanet.... Many thanks to Burv (and especially his head) for the kind words and the referral. Glad we were able to help you!
Posted by Hugh Garber at 06:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack digg this add to del.icio.us add to My Web Furl this page
September 10, 2007
FTP: For The People
Many thanks to the FTPplanet forum member who emailed me this fantastic article on FTP written by Michael Calore. The article is full of insight, advice and key learnings based on Michael's 20 or so years of experience using file transfer protocol to move files.
Rough outline:
* Basic FTP info
* Logging In
* Anonymous FTP
* Server logs
* ASCII vs Binary
* Top clients
* Using a browser
* FTP etiquette
And so it begins: "It was in the dark ages of the Reagan era when I logged my first encounter with the File Transfer Protocol. I was involved in some nefarious video game-trading ring of the innocently naive variety, and a friend of mine had that hot new copy of Vladivostok Putting Challenge that I wanted oh so badly. The only problem was that he lived all the way on the other side of Orange County. Being too young to drive, neither of us had access to a car, and snail mail was just too darned slow. I wanted to lay down sloping fifteen-footers and rub it in the face of the Reds today, not in a week.
"No problem," my friend assured me. "Just log in to my server and grab it with FTP."
"FTP? What is that?" I asked.
My friend let out an Oscar-worthy sigh and gave me the quick run down of the Internet protocol that would forever transform my life."
Posted by Hugh Garber at 07:29 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack digg this add to del.icio.us add to My Web Furl this page
September 07, 2007
Data Transfer with Secure FTP
Zephrin Lasker wrote an article on data transfers in the lead generation business, and brings some solid points regarding Secure FTP (SFTP). See link below for full article on Mediapost.com
"The IAB recommends that lead data be encrypted during the transfer process. They recommend an encryption equal to or greater than 128 bit SSL. For batch transfers, they recommend Secure FTP (SFTP) as opposed to plain old, insecure FTP. It's not very difficult. And demanding secure data transfers from our lead generation partners is the right thing to do -- for our consumers and for our clients. "
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=66864
Posted by Erik Small at 11:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack digg this add to del.icio.us add to My Web Furl this page
September 06, 2007
Fox News Gaffe Revealed Personal Data
Here's a scary story about how an unsecured FTP server was recently compromised at Fox News.
"As many as 1.5 million email addresses may have been revealed to visitors arriving at an unsecured FTP server courtesy of a login left available by an error on the Fox News website."
Scary stuff indeed!
The morale of the story: Always secure your files and data by making sure to use strong (and private) passwords and always require file transfers to occur over encrypted SSL & SSL protocols. There are many other security precautions that can be taken, but at a minimum those two precautions are a smart start to ensuring the confidentiality of your files and data.
Posted by Hugh Garber at 06:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack digg this add to del.icio.us add to My Web Furl this page
September 04, 2007
Software tips for running an online business
Many thanks to James Bergen for posting this list of software suggestions: It's hard to argue with any of these solid suggestions.
Email Program: Eudora
Mailing List Software: Mailloop; Group Mail
HTML Editor: Coffee Cup; Dreamweaver
Graphics Editor: Corel
Zip/Unzip: WinZip
FTP Program: WS_FTP
Text Editor: NoteTab Pro
Ad Tracking: LnkinLite
Financial Management: Quicken
Tax Program: Turbo Tax
EXCERPT ON FTP: "File Transfer Protocol, better known as FTP, is a procedure used to upload and download files to and from your web server. In order to use FTP, you'll need to download and install a software program on your computer. The most widely used FTP program is WS FTP Pro."
Posted by Hugh Garber at 07:41 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack digg this add to del.icio.us add to My Web Furl this page
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