HOWTO: Enabled SFTP for User Account

As of version 2018.0.0.40, BulletProof FTP Server supports SFTP aka FTP over SSH in the Secure Edition of the product.

Enabling SFTP for a given User-Account simply requires the toggling of the feature for the user-account, and specifying the authentication method. The two methods of authenticating are via Public-Key, Password or both. Optionally, you can specify that the authentication must happen via the keyboard.

Turn on SFTP for User-Account
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Optional: Enable Password Authentication
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Optional: Enable Public-Key Authentication (Recommended)
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HOWTO: Enabled SFTP for FTP Server

As of version 2018.0.0.40, BulletProof FTP Server supports SFTP aka FTP over SSH in the Secure Edition of the product.

Enabling SFTP is very simple and only requires a Private-Key. The Private-Key can be loaded via a file or text which has been copy/paste’d into the software (NOTE: text keys will be stored encrypted in the software).

Enabled SFTP for the FTP Server
Enable SFTP for the FTP Server (click for full-size)
Generate Private-Key (click for full-size)
Assigned Private-Key (click for full-size)

Defending Brute-Force Attacks against FTP Server

Attempts at Bruce-Force Logins
Attempts at Bruce-Force Logins

You might have seen it before, tons and tons of login attempts as random users in your installation of BPFTP Server.

This is the result of a brute-force attack against the FTP Server and results in thousands of login-attempts to the ftp-server using common user-name and either default or dictionary based passwords.

The attacker is usually using several computers, from different points in the world against thousands and thousands of computers on the internet. Once a common tcp/ip port (like ftp’s port 21) is identified, it enters a mode of attack in which a connection is made to the ftp-server and the brute-force attack begins.

Kick+BAN Setting under Options
Kick+BAN Setting under Options

In order to combat these types of attacks, we’ve included a feature call Kick + BAN. Turning on this feature (off by default) will automatically detect these types of attacks and help to thrawt the attack by severing the control-connection and adding the attacker’s IP to the banned-ip-list, keeping them from ever connecting again.

The setting can be found by pulling down the menu Setup -> Main -> General and clicking on Options found in the left panel, then look for the checkbox labeled Limit USER / PASS.

We recommend setting the number of attempts to 5 and set the Kick + BAN.

Please Note: The Kick + BAN feature works against common brute-force attacks, where the attacker opens the control-connection and leaves it open for each login attempt made. This is a common method as the amount of time it takes to establish a tcp/ip connection for each attempt is considerably lengthy and would drastically reduce the effectiveness of a brute-force attack if a new connection needed to be made each time.

McAfee Anti-Virus thinks there’s a VIRUS **RESOLVED***

Starting sometime last weekend, McAfee updated their virus definitions and is now erroneously identifying our software as containing a virus. We are working with McAfee to get this fixed and we’re hoping to get it resolved ASAP!

STATUS: RESOLVED!

As of today, Sep 10, 2008, McAfee has been very responsive and resolved the issue with their latest Virus DAT 5380. If you are experiencing a problem, make sure your Anti-Virus is update to date.

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

The problem seems to manifest itself in two different ways:

1) BPFTPSERVER.EXE is our main executable and in Virus Definition DAT 5379, the file is being misidentified as “potentiallyFalse Trojan“. As of today, Sep 9 2008, we received word back from McAfee that this has been corrected with Virus Definition DAT 5380.

2) BPFTPSERVER-SERVICE.EXE is the executable which manages BPFTP Server while it’s running as a Windows Service. In the current virus definition DAT 5379, this is being misidentified as “G6SERVICE Potentially Unwanted Program”. While we’re not sure why it got labeled as a “potentially unwanted program”, the G6SERVICE piece is because it shares a majority of code with an ancestor of BPFTP Server called G6FTP Server, which was rebranded about 6 years ago. As of today, Sep 10, we’ve configirmed that Virus Definition DAT 5380 fixes the problem.

FIXING THE CORRUPTION CAUSED BY MCAFEE ANTI-VIRUS

Again, we are working with McAfee to get this corrected as soon as possible as it certainly affects us all very much. Please continue to make sure your virus definitions are up-to-date with McAfee, alternatively you can tell it to ignore the installation directory for the software and prevent this problem from ocurring.

If McAfee Anti-Virus has already deleted these files, they can be resurrected by downloading/installing the current version from our website. Before installing the current version, please copy the *.INI files from your installation directory to a safe location and install in the same directory. This will help to ensure that everything goes smoothly with your upgrade.