Secure FTP (SFTP) is widely used across both the finance and healthcare industries. SFTP has been around for years and some may discard it as old and outdated. However, SFTP has been proven as a simple, secure and fast way to transfer files from clients and systems into a single location from anywhere.
This article is going to cover Couchdrop’s Cloud SFTP which provides an SFTP service for the finance and healthcare industries.
Bring your own storage
Couchdrop is the only cloud SFTP provider that enables you to bring your own storage as an endpoint. You can connect your Azure Blob, Amazon S3, SharePoint, Dropbox or anything in between and use this as your SFTP server storage. All files transferred will end up in the storage location of your choosing enabling you to access the data whenever, and wherever you need to using global cloud tools. The added benefit of this is you have full visibility and control your data at rest. You can control how much security your endpoint has, and if you find you grow out of your current provider, you can simply migrate your data using a tool like Movebot and connect your new storage to Couchdrop without needing to reconfigure anything else.
Truly cloud native
The Couchdrop service is built on the cloud, for the cloud. It can scale to meet your demands whether it is a large user count, performance, data transfer, file size or accessibility. As Couchdrop is built on the cloud it is simple to spin up dedicated instances to meet your security needs. Even though Couchdrop is cloud native, it also supports SMB and NFS as storage endpoints. As well, you can use any compliant SFTP client whether this is terminal, client or script.
User scalability
Couchdrop does not charge per a user on business plans. This means you get unlimited users for your SFTP/FTP server. Other providers charge $10 per a user and also force you to pay $200 just for SFTP. Couchdrop is a fixed price service that scales to meet your needs.
User security and permissions
With the Couchdrop service you can set granular permissions on a per a user basis such as; read-only, read-write and write-only . You can also disable insecure transfer methods such as FTP or restrict the user to connect only on a specific IP addresses using Couchdrop’s firewall. Each user can be restricted to a specific folder ensuring they only upload files to their silo and don’t find other files elsewhere. Finally user’s portal access can be secured with 2-factor authentication.
Security
Given the sensitive nature of healthcare and finance, the team at Couchdrop understand the importance of data security. As previously mentioned, you can bring your own storage ensuring you have full visibility and control of your data at rest. Additionally as mentioned above there is granular security and permissions on a per user basis. Aside from these features, Couchdrop is a fully secure and HIPAA compliant platform. Couchdrop does not store your data and is processed completely in memory. Think of Couchdrop simply as your conduit to get your data from a client to your storage. Couchdrop understands the importance and sensitivity of data. Due to this it follows industry best practices to ensure your data is safe and cared for when it is going from point A to point B. So long as you choose a secure method to transfer your data (SFTP, SCP, Portal) your data will be fully encrypted during transit using either SSH or HTTPS.
Branded Product
Make Couchdrop your own with your own branding and URL. Couchdrop can turn into your own platform by having your clients connect to your URL rather than sftp.couchdrop.io and build trust and confidence with your clients as they access a file system (upload/down portal) that resembles your brand.
Webhooks and comprehensive API
Couchdrop supports webhooks and offers a comprehensive API. Anything you can do in the interface you can build into the API. This enables you to automate and incorporate your cloud storage into your workflows.
File and Folder sharing
Simply and easily share links to files and folders with others outside of your organization. You add password protection or set the link to expire after a set time.
Other transfer methods
Aside from SFTP/FTP Couchdrop also supports SCP, Rsync, HTTPS and email as methods to transfer and receive files from your clients. This provides a broad set of options for clients who aren’t confident with technical solutions. For example, your customer could email an attachment directly into a folder within your cloud storage.
There’s a lot to digest here, however there is no harm giving Couchdrop a crack. With all plans you receive a 14-day free trial and the service is a true SaaS no commitment offering. You can be up and running in less than a minute as all you need to do is sign up, connect a storage location and then you can SFTP straight away.
For guides and further documentation head to community.couchdrop.io or reach out to Couchdrop’s support team
