I know what FTP is, but what is Secure FTP?
Posted 02/03/2007 at 12:29am
| by Niko Coucouvanis

Don't you wish finding your car keys was as easy as finding a server's RSA key?
FTP is still an excellent way to move files from your Mac to a remote server or vice versa, and you can add an s to route your FTP session through a SSH-style secure shell. SFTP works similarly to FTP, using the following syntax: sftp nikbot@www.macaddict.com: /path/to/remotefile.zip /pathto/local/file.zip.
This downloads a file (remotefile.zip) from the server (macaddict.com) and saves that file according to the file path and file name you use in place of our example. Since you're creating the file on your local Mac, you can name it whatever you like; and this is secure FTP, so naturally you'll be prompted for a password. As always, learn more about this handy tool by typing man ssh in a Terminal window and pressing Return.