Secure file transfer technologies used by banks and other financial institutions help them to transfer, manage, and access files on the remote systems. Secure file transfer technologies use a secure file transfer protocol or SSH file transfer protocol to move or access files. Secure file transfer technologies encrypt data and commands to prevent exposure of sensitive information such as passwords and user credentials. It helps banks to transfer and access data recovery files, funds, and billing data.
The secure file transfer methods protect sensitive banking data form the cyber-criminals while transferring it through FTP, email, or cloud-based file transfer. It stops cyber-criminals from altering, stealing, viewing, or intercepting the transferred sensitive information. The secure file transfer system transfers banking data regardless of size, volume, or complexity. Banks can use managed file transfer (MFT) solutions as a platform on cloud for transferring files securely.
How secure file transfer helps banks and other financial institutions
Data security: Banks need to secure sensitive customer data while transmitting or at rest. The sensitive banking data are always at the risk of breaches. The adoption of secure file transfer methods in banks helps them to secure the customer data and allows banks and other financial institutions to avoid the security breaches by cyber-criminals.
Automate services: The automated services in secure file transfer technologies help banks to ensure the accuracy of the file transfer. It saves time by eliminating the dependency of banks and financial institutions on time-consuming and less accurate manual file transfer systems.
Compliance: The use of secure file transfer in banks and other financial institutions makes it easier for banking sectors to maintain and facilitate compliance. It provides security control, auditing, reporting, and monitoring capability for the banks. Secure file transfer assists the industry generated compliances like PCI DSS, HIPAA, HITECH, GDPR, and SOX.
Standard protocols used to secure the file transfer methods:
The financial institutions and banks can use various protocols to secure sensitive customer data and proprietary while transmitting and at rest. Some of the standard protocol used to ensure the information in multiple organization are:
Secure file transfer protocol
The secure file transfer protocols combined with a secure shell connection safeguards the file present in the banking sectors. It is an encrypted network protocol that enables a remote login to operate the network with a lack of security. The secure file transfer methods provide the banking sectors with encryption of commands and data.
Hypertext transfer protocol-secure (HTTPS)
The hypertext transfer protocol-secure (HTTPS) will secure the websites of banking and financial sectors. The HTTPS protects sensitive customer data such as credit card numbers, debit card numbers, and user’s personal information. It offers the banking sectors with a multi-layer of data protection, which includes data integrity, authentication, and encryption.
Application statement 2 (AS2)
The application statement 2 standard helps banking sectors to transfer electronic data interchange (EDI) messages and other essential data in real-time. The banks move the AS2 EDI messages through HTTPS or HTTP protocol.
File transfer protocol-secure (FTPS)
The file transfer protocol works in application layer wrapper and offers the encryption of data in the banking sectors. The encryption of data in application layers is known as the secure socket layer (SSL). The SSL enables private and secure communication through a network.
Managed file transfer solution (MFT)
A managed file transfer solution supports FTPS, A2S, HTTPS, and SFTP protocols in secure data transmission. It protects the information transferred among the external and internal entities in the banking sectors. The MFT meets the stringent guidelines of various industry regulations and includes several security features that make it an ideal choice.
The MFT provides multiple standards to sign, encrypt, and decrypt the files in the banking sectors. It displays the user access and associated data transfer, with its ability to centralize the records and other essential reporting capabilities. Workflow automation, notification, auditing, and file transfer monitoring are the properties of MFT.
Applications of secure file transfer protocol in banks and other financial sectors:
Encryption of data while transferring: The secure file transfer technologies allow the banking systems to encrypt the user credentials and other sensitive messages. The banking sectors apply secure encryption protocols such as SFTP or FTPS to secure the data-in-motion. The encryption technologies render the readable capacity of cyber-criminals even after stealing sensitive banking information.
Encryption of information at rest: It is essential for banking sectors to protect the sensitive banking data when in rest. The data are vulnerable to the cyber-attacks even during the rest, as all the files end up in the file transfer servers. The data present in the folders are most sensitive to the cyber-attacks. The criminals generally attack the hard disk for stealing the stored raw data. Public key-based technology provides the best protection for various sensitive data.
Preserving data integrity: Banks and other financial institutions need to secure the integrity of the baking data. The cyber-criminals often try to alter the sensitive information present in the banking sectors. The system needs to prevent or detect unauthorized access in the banking sectors. The secure file transfer technologies prevent a file from being altered.
Robust authentication technologies: Secure file transfer protocol supports the reliable authentication methods in banks and other financial sectors. The hackers generally gain access to banking systems by mimicking as a legitimate user. So, the banking systems need to employ technologies that can validate the users accurately. Secure file transfer technologies use authentication methods such as PAM, NTLM, or LDAP. The two-way authentication methods help the banking sectors to authenticate sensitive information.
Multiple access control mechanisms: The secure file transfer mechanism provides various access control techniques, to safeguard the sensitive banking data. The IP-based access control mechanisms help banking sectors to secure the data. The banking servers contain the list that provides the IP address of the clients. Access to the banking systems gets denied when the IP address is not in the server list. The role-based access control technologies can help banks to secure banking information.
NetSentries, combining the experience gained in assessing diverse applications installed in operational specific designs and services, through its inbred ADVR (Assess, Declare, Validate and Respond) framework, ensures a thorough assessment of the Secure File Transfer and Storage services in place. This assessment assures 360-degree security, starting with the posture assessment, covering all the elements, including control validation and cyber SOC response strategies with the objective to provide.