Secure data transfer

Hi, if I wanted to transfer via email securely some files, say Excel or Words files etc, apart from passwording them what would be my further options?

Can one lease a secure line [SSL!] and get an accompanying certificate? What about encryption? I'm really looking for a realistic solution that doesn't involve thousand's of

VPN

How much ?

How often ?

How secure ?

Special Delivery on a floppy or CD! It would arrive before you get an affordable answer here to do it by email.

It depends if you want the transfer transaction be secure, or if you want the actual file content to be encrypted after it has been sent and received.

SSL/TLS is a cheap and cheerful option, it doesn't encrypt the actual file content, just the SMTP transaction between the sending and receiving mail server.

Likewise you could use something like PGP to encrypt the files and send them via regular "plain text" SMTP and assume that even if someone did somehow sniff the transaction the file contents are encrypted.

Easiest and one of the most secure ways is to use PGP. If you want to send regularly then the recipient needs PGP and a key (created by PGP on installation). For occasional stuff, you can create a self-extracting encrypted file, and you need to communicate a password by other means (eg: text it).

Alternatively, create an encrypted zip archive of the files. Again you will need to transfer the password independently.

It depends if you want the transfer transaction be secure, or if you want the actual file content to be encrypted after it has been sent and received.

A secure transaction was my first thought but I have no knowledge in this area - any useful inks would appreciated.

Likewise you could use something like PGP to encrypt the files and send them via regular "plain text" SMTP and assume that even if someone did somehow sniff the transaction the file contents are encrypted.

But this I suspect will be the most appropriate option - I have looked at PGP in the past and if I get no joy from my previous few lines I'll look again.

Thank you - Blue

If it has to be email look into SSL/TLS for whatever server software you are using.

FTP with SSL is another option and is pretty simple to setup.

I haven't played around much with PGP but if you reach the point where you have encrypted files and transfer them via one of the methods above, I'd suggest you've ruled out most problems and would be in the position where human factors are the most likely concern i.e. people leaving passwords/phrases lying around.

In reply to:

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i.e. people leaving passwords/phrases lying around.

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One of the reasons that PGP is one of the most secure is that if you use it with keys then there are no password/phrases that need to be transferred. The decrypt key need never leave the recipients computer.

Yes but if the user, for example, has a blank password to their computer, then presumably their uber secure PGP key isn't too difficult to copy off and then you become, to all intents, that person so far as access to encrypted files don't you?

I'm not suggesting it's likely, just something for the OP to consider as if the data truly is sensitive there are factors outside of simply getting the files from A to B securely.