Security Settings
Files.com achieves its best-in-class security by providing customers with a file server platform that is tuned for maximum security out of the box, with no manual configuration necessary. This means that things like strong encryption enforcement, brute force protection, and IP address pinning for web sessions come built-in and enabled by default.
We also realize that every organization has unique security requirements, so we give site administrators full control over these security features, allowing you to fine-tune your site settings to meet your needs.
For compliance reasons, it may be desirable to prevent any users from connecting with specific protocols. Files.com provides the ability to completely disable all FTP/FTPS traffic and/or all SFTP traffic.
When this setting is enabled, users who have been granted permission to connect via FTP or FTPS will be able to connect. When this setting is disabled, no users can connect via FTP or FTPS, even if their individual user permissions grant them FTP access.
Web UI
Site administrators can change the Enable FTP setting at Settings > Integrations > Transfer Protocols within the web application. Click the toggle to change the value.
CLI
Site admins can use the Command-Line Interface (CLI) App to view the current setting with this snippet:
files-cli sites get --format csv --fields ftp_enabledUpdate the setting using this CLI snippet. Replace NEW_VALUE with either true (to enable) or false (to disable):
files-cli sites update --ftp-enabled=NEW_VALUEIf your site has dedicated IPs and this setting is disabled, all of the ports used for FTP (21, 3021, 990, 3990, 40000-50000) will be entirely closed.
For sites that don't have dedicated IPs, disabling FTP access will not close any ports. Even though the ports will be "active", users will not be able to connect via FTP or FTPS when FTP is disabled; after authenticating, the system will immediately close each FTP or FTPS connection and display an error message.
When this setting is enabled, users who have been granted permission to connect via SFTP will be able to connect. When this setting is disabled, no users can connect via SFTP, even if their individual user permissions grant them SFTP access.
If your site has dedicated IPs and this setting is disabled, port 22 will be entirely closed. For sites that don't have dedicated IPs, disabling SFTP access will not close port 22, but users will still not be able to connect via SFTP.
Web UI
Site administrators can change the Enable SFTP setting at Settings > Integrations > Transfer Protocols within the web application. Click the toggle to change the value.
CLI
Site admins can use the Command-Line Interface (CLI) App to view the current setting with this snippet:
files-cli sites get --format csv --fields sftp_enabledUpdate the setting using this CLI snippet. Replace NEW_VALUE with either true (to enable) or false (to disable):
files-cli sites update --sftp-enabled=NEW_VALUEBy default, Files.com will reject FTP connections to your site that do not use secure encryption. If you need to support very old devices or clients of the FTP protocol, you can use the global setting, found at Settings > Integrations > Transfer Protocols > Plain/unencrypted FTP Support, to allow unencrypted FTP connections (port 21 without SSL).
You can also allow unencrypted FTP connections on a per individual user basis via the Plain/unencrypted FTP Support user setting, found at Settings > Users > selected user account > Other connections > Plain/unencrypted FTP Support.
Note:Allowing unencrypted connections is dangerous because it will cause passwords and file contents to be transmitted across networks in clear text.
Default: Require SSL on all FTP connections (recommended)
Navigate to Settings > Integrations > Transfer Protocols > HTTPS, FTPS, and SFTP ciphers. This setting allows compatibility with old browsers and old SFTP/FTP clients by allowing SSLv3, TLSv1.0, SHA1, and other ciphers that are known to be insecure but required by older versions of clients.
Note: Enabling this option is dangerous because an uninformed user of your site might think that they are using secure encryption when they are actually using encryption that is broken. You should treat all connections to your site as if they are fully insecure if you use this option.
SFTP ciphers
Key Exchange | diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256 |
Encryption | aes128-ctr |
MAC | hmac-sha2-256 |
The following insecure SFTP ciphers are supported only when allowing connections with insecure ciphers.
Key Exchange | ecdh-sha2-nistp521 |
Encryption | arcfour128 |
MAC | hmac-md5 |
Default: Only allow connections with secure, contemporary ciphers (recommended)
The setting found at Settings > Users > User Settings > IP whitelist allows you to limit which IP addresses your users are allowed to connect from. List allowed IPs, one per line. You may specify a range in CIDR format, such as 192.168.1.0/27.
If you have also set up user-specific IP whitelists, users connecting from an IP address matching in either whitelist will be allowed to log in.
You can manage IP whitelisting for individual users via the IP whitelist user setting, found at Settings > Users > selected user account > Authentication > IP whitelist. If you are also using a site-wide IP whitelist, users connecting from an IP address matching in either whitelist will be allowed to log in.
This feature is an extra layer of protection for organizations that desire an aggressive level of security, as general brute force protection is already provided by Files.com. It will lock users out after a given number of failed login attempts, further protecting you from brute force password guessing attempts. Navigate to Settings > Users > User Settings > Brute force protection.
Note:Care should be taken if enabling this setting to avoid accidental user lockouts. We recommend having at least one backup administrator user who will be able to unlock another administrator in the event of an accidental lockout.
Default: Use default Files.com protection
This setting helps to secure your site against session hijacking attempts by pinning user sessions to the IP address they originated from.
With this setting enabled, users will be asked to log in again if their IP Address changes. This could occur when they change networks, such as moving their laptop from the office to their home network. Disabling this setting is required at some office networks which rotate public IP addresses.
Navigate to Settings > Users > User Settings > Session IP address pinning.
This setting does not apply to the Desktop app, which uses longer-lived session tokens (see Desktop Session IP Pinning).
Enabling or disabling this setting will not impact, affect, or disconnect any currently existing connected sessions.
Default: Enabled (recommended)
Web interface sessions will automatically expire after a period of inactivity. Use this setting to customize the session idle timeout if needed. Navigate to Settings > Users > User Settings > Session expiration.
Default: 6 hours
Similar to the Session IP address pinning setting, enabling this setting will force users of the Files.com Desktop app to log in again if their IP address changes while they are logged in to the Desktop app. Navigate to Settings > Users > User Settings > Desktop Session IP Pinning.
Default: Disabled
The Desktop app uses session tokens which have a limited lifetime. Use this setting to customize how long those sessions last once a user has logged into the app. Navigate to Settings > Users > User Settings > Desktop session lifetime.
Default: 720 hours (30 days)
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