FTP services all require that you use both desktop FTP software or a FTP client as well as an FTP server. Box.net is web based and requires no software, and has its own servers already set up and managed, requiring no extra effort on the part of our users.
FTP file hosting or backup, is also very limited. Files on a FTP server cannot be named with certain characters. Files hosted on a FTP site or server usually require some kind of interface or website. If you do not have this already or don't have access to your company's website, you will have to send users directly to links on your FTP server, which can expose folders on your server which you don't want made public.
Depends how the FTP server is setup. If you pay to use an FTP server from a common webhost and start adding files to it, all those files will be publicly available. As soon as you add files, they are accessible by anyone and can even be added to Google's search results. On Box.net, none of the files you upload are searchable by Google, and by default none can be seen by others.
The majority of FTP services you find will not backup your data, and if that server crashes or a user deletes a file accidentally, you lose it permanently. With Box.net, we backup every file you put in your account.
FTP Security Concerns
- FTP passes usernames and passwords between the client and host in clear text, unencrypted.
- Data is uploaded unencrypted to the server.
- FTP can be difficult to set up and requires desktop software, and someone knowledgable in setting up/configuring a server.
- No integrity check on the server side. If a transfer is interrupted, the server has no way to know if the received file is complete or not.
