SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) is primarily used for securely transmitting large or sensitive data such as billing data and funds. Using SFTP helps your organization achieve compliance with regulatory rulings such as HIPAA or GDPR. SFTP achieves this level of safety by using methods such as SSH and requiring the user to be authorized by the server.

How Does SFTP Work?

SFTP and FTP are nearly identical, with the difference that the regular FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is not encrypted, while SFTP is. They both use the same commands and serve the same function but taking into consideration the fact that SFTP is far more secure, FTP is obsolete and thus, there is no real reason to use it anymore. It needs a client and a server to fulfill its intended purpose. The client is used to interact with the server and upload or download files. During the transfer, they are encrypted to make sure that they remain unreadable in transit. Furthermore, as an additional layer of security, to access the files you need to be authenticated. This is accomplished with either a password, SSH key, or both. SFTP is very fast, supporting large quantities to be transferred between servers, also it integrates very well with firewalls and VPNs. They do however tend to be a bit complex, which you might either consider as a quality feature or just plain tedious to set up. It is doubtless however that the customization options are very varied and plentiful. So to paraphrase, when using an SFTP you can expect the following features:

• Strong Security SFTPs are designed to be as safe and secure as possible. There are multiple protocols at various points of the file transfer that make many attacks on your privacy and security nearly impossible.
• Compliance with Regulations If your business needs to comply with any data regulations, a protocol such as this, especially Microsoft Azure will provide you with the compliance necessary.
• Seamless VPN Integration VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are used to further protect your data online. They act as a tunnel and protect the data being transferred. You can use a VPN with SFTP to further protect your data if necessary.

Why Use Microsoft Azure?

Microsoft Azure is based on the PaaS (Platform as a Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) models which allow you to introduce cloud capabilities to your network or let Microsoft handle your infrastructure respectively. It offers an incredible level of flexibility and customization to your network through many various ways, such as SQL databases, detailed logging, virtual machines, and many more. It also offers over 100 compliance certifications, including over 50 to specific regions on the globe. By using this service, you get access to the Microsoft cloud services which include a multitude of options. For example, Microsoft Sentinel is a system that delivers security analytics by providing SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) and SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response). It uses powerful AI threat detection models across all devices, users, applications, and infrastructure, both on-premises and in the cloud. There are many other Microsoft services such as this one that are cloud-based and powered by AI that you can freely use to expand your business and improve productivity

How to Set up Microsoft Azure

Setting up Blob Storage

The first step will be to set up Blob (Binary Large Object) storage. Blob storage is ideal for storing large amounts of unstructured data, perfect for storing files for distributed access or feeding images and documents to a browser.

1. Create and sign into your Microsoft Azure account.
2. Click on the Storage account on the left side, it should take you to a new screen.
3. Click on +Create in the top left section of the interface, you should be taken to a new screen. Fill out the required fields.
4. Click on the Review + Create tab, check all your info, and then click Create.

Setting up an ACI Container

ACI (Azure Container Instances) is a service used to run containers on the Azure public cloud without setting up a Virtual Machine.

1. Sign into Azure and go to your storage account.
2. Navigate through Data Storage> Containers and click on +Container. Input a container name and access level.
3. Go inside your container and upload a file from your computer device. You should see the uploaded files listed on the screen in front of you.

Syncing up the Azure SFTP With a File Sharing Service

There are multiple file-sharing services you can use for this, but for this guide, we will be using Files.com. We will be mounting the Azure Blob storage on Files.com.

1. Sign up to Files.com.
2. Click on the Integration button, you should have a display of various services that it covers.
3. Click on Microsoft Azure and add it as a remote server. Fill out the necessary information and click save.
4. Click on the files tab on the dashboard.
5. A new screen should open up, and create a new folder.
6. Go inside the folder and click on the Folder settings button on the right side of the screen.
7. Click on Remote server mount and add the Azure SFTP Server(Azure Blob Storage).
8. After a successful mount, all of the files you uploaded while setting up the Azure Container Instances, should be displayed on the screen in front of you.

What Are the Benefits of Using Files.com?

Files.com is a SaaS (Software as a Service) MFT (Managed File Transfer) that allows for the free transfer of files between users. The main benefit lies in utilizing both the security of an SFTP and the Managed File Transfer software at the same time. Apart from providing stellar security and compliance with regulations, it also utilizes SSO (Single Sign-On), 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication), and MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) for additional security measures.

Summary

In this guide we cover a lot of ground, we explain what a Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) is and how it differs from an FTP. What makes Microsoft Azure particularly good to create an SFTP. We also explained what Blob storage is and what ACI containers are. You should now be able to transfer your sensitive information with the full security and reliability that you need.