Secure File Transfer
Secure Shell (SSH) protects what you send
If you have ever connected to Osprey or the campus network through Telnet or File Transfer Protocol (FTP), you are sending your password in the clear to every relay point between you and the destination. This means that an attacker can potentially eavesdrop on your session and steal your credentials. Once someone has stolen your username and password, they can impersonate you on the network. That means they could access anything that your username and password could.
Enter SSH and SFTP
The most popular alternative to Telnet is called SSH or Secure Shell. SSH works by encrypting your commands and data before sending them across the Internet, thereby preventing anyone from simply reading your information. A program using SSH looks and feels the same as Telnet, but you have the piece-of-mind that your connection is secure.
A more secure version of FTP also exists and is called Secure FTP or SFTP for short. Like SSH, it works by creating a secure communications path between you and your destination, protecting any credentials or data passed over the connection.
To start using SSH or SFTP encryption, you need to download a program that supports it. On campus, there is a client from SSH available for University machines, which is also installed in the General Purpose computer labs. For other Windows users, there are several programs such as PuTTY and WinSCP. Macintosh users may be interested in CyberDuck, Fugu or OpenSSH, while Linux users may want to try OpenSSH. See the references below for all the URL's. Once you have downloaded and installed one of those programs, you need to configure it for use with the campus network.