CertiGuide to Security+  9  Chapter 2:  Communication Security (Domain 2.0; 20%)       9  2.5  File Transfer

2.5.1  S/FTP 1 2.5.3  File Sharing

FTP site administrators who want to limit what users can do on their FTP site often use two methods: blind FTP, and anonymous FTP.

One option is to set up a directory to allow only blind FTP access. Blind FTP means that the user cannot see the names of any files in the directory. They can only retrieve a file if they know its full name. If the directory is configured to allow uploads, the user can upload a file to the site, but they and other users cannot see it in the FTP site’s directory once it has been uploaded.

Anonymous FTP allows you to gain FTP access by using the login “anonymous” and a password usually of the form “user@host.domain”. Once logged in as the anonymous user (who is actually not a “real” user on the system in most cases), you have limited privileges sufficient to allow you to transfer files from and sometimes to designated areas.

Blind FTP is often combined with Anonymous FTP, so that users who do not have actual accounts on the FTP server can only access files on the server that they specifically know are there.

2.5.1  S/FTP 1 2.5.3  File Sharing