Corporations relying on old-fashioned and unsecured data access methods face a serious security risk. Unsecured FTP is still a widely used method of transfers, and automation is often based on scripts and batches run by operating system schedulers. Unsecured internal networks with hundreds of servers hold the most critical information and securing those network connections is of utmost importance.

Company data security policies as well as data security laws and regulations demand replacing the unsecured communications and file transfers with secure methods. The cornerstones of data security: confidentiality, integrity and strong authentication become mandatory, meaning that moving IDs and passwords in plain text just does not pass IT audits anymore. Reliable access control and access audit require reliable user authentication.

A number of data security regulations, such as SOX, PCI-DSS, FISMA, HIPAA, and Basel II, pose hefty penalties for not complying with them.

It is important to secure all data flows to protect business-critical data assets. Business partners demand secure data transfer methods. Partners and third parties need to transfer data residing in their networks. The data can flow from one intranet through an extranet service to another intranet. The file transfer is often interactive and ad-hoc by nature.