Yummy FTP offers a means to transfer your data completely securely using the SFTP protocol.
SFTP stands for Secure File Transfer Protocol and is based on the SSH (secure shell) provided by OpenSSH which is built into Mac OS X.
With SFTP, all data, including any password or passphrase you send to the server to get connected, are all encrypted using a highly complex algorithm with an encryption key known only to you and the server.
To make an SFTP connection from the New Connection window, ensure that the Advanced options are showing by clicking the disclosure button at the bottom left of the New Connection window, then select SFTP (Secure) from the Protocol menu. Enter the connection details to the server and click the Connect button when ready.
To enable SFTP connections in a Bookmark, edit the Bookmark in the Bookmarks Viewer window, select SFTP (Secure) from the Protocol menu and click the Save button.
Once you are connected using SFTP, everything works in very much the same was as when using standard FTP, so SFTP connections are indicated by a Lock icon in the top right of the FTP Browser window.
Public key authentication is an additional method of user identification that Yummy FTP supports in SFTP. In this mode, the server has a copy of the public key of a public/private key file pair which has been generated on your Mac using ssh-keygen in the Terminal. When connecting to the server, key files act as digital fingerprints to authenticate you as the user.
To enable this method in Yummy FTP, simply select the SSH key file checkbox in either the New Connection window’s Advanced Settings area, or within the Bookmark editor window if you are using a Bookmark. Click on the Select button to navigate to your private key file.
An optional feature of SFTP is its ability to compress files on-the-fly while transferring them. For text files especially, this can reduce transfer time by as much as ten times.
To enable this option enable the Compression check box in either the Advanced Settings area of the New Connection window or in the Bookmark editor window if you are using a Bookmark.
You may optionally store all your connection passwords into your Keychain for later retrieval by enabling the Store passwords in Keychain option in the Server Settings tab of the Preferences.