What SFTP Can’t Do for Law Firms

Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) had a great run. For over a decade, many law firms relied on it to share confidential information internally among staff and co-counsel and externally with other law firms because it was the most secure way to transfer files between computers systems and servers.

But times are different now. You’ve gone from flip phone to smartphone because it’s a superior technology that enables you to be more productive. It’s time to scrap SFTP and adopt a more efficient way to share files.

If you’re currently relying on SFTP for file sharing at your law firm, find out what SFTP can’t do and stick around to see what we suggest as the alternative.

1. Share files easily

SFTP isn’t user-friendly if you’re not a little bit tech-savvy. To transfer files with SFTP, you need to use SFTP software or SSH to access the remote host.  Even for IT professionals, this is neither an easy nor quick task to do since SFTP server details need to be acquired each time.

You can imagine the negative impact on productivity when dealing with frequent file transfers. Perhaps, you’re even experiencing it right now.

2. Share files quickly

Transferring files through SFTP can be quite slow if you’re working with large files or a large number of files. The speed limitations are due to slow encryption speeds during the process of SSH tunneling.

This speed might be okay if you’re transferring small documents but when you’re working with gigabytes worth of data, you’ll likely have to wait hours and sometimes entire workdays to get files where they need to be.

3. Encrypt files at rest

There are two types of encryption. In transit and at rest. In-transit encryption encodes data while it’s traveling from computer to another and at rest encryption encodes data that’s in storage and not in motion. When working with sensitive information, it’s better to have both.

While SFTP protects data in transit, it doesn’t protect data at rest. This poses a risk since a hacker can still get into SFTP servers and gain access to shared data.

4. Keep all confidential information secure

Lawyers, paralegals, and support staff generally aren’t equipped with the knowledge to share files through SFTP. If they want to share privileged information securely, they require support from the IT help desk.

Sounds like a hassle if you ask me.

This is the reason why staff will resort to using unsanctioned methods such as email or cloud links to share files with their contacts – it’s quicker and files can be shared instantly during time-sensitive periods. When this happens, security is dropped altogether and there’s a higher chance for confidential information leaks.

SFTP Alternative

What law firms need is an effortless way to securely share files. The solution should be easy enough so that lawyers, paralegals, and support staff can exchange files with their contacts without the need for IT intervention every time.

This is what TitanFile was created for. Our award-winning file sharing solution is equipped with military-grade encryption to give you the level of security your law firm needs without all the complications that come with SFTP.

Best yet, it’s as easy to use as email for both the sender and the recipient, and large files are uploaded within minutes which will result in increased efficiency.

Learn more about TitanFile for your law firm or get access to our case studies.