Fetch

About Fetch

Fetch is a popular program which is used to transfer files, using the FTP and now SFTP (secure FTP) protocols. It has been used for years by the Mac community on the UC Berkeley campus to transfer files between user computers and servers, particularly web servers. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, and SFTP (Secure FTP) is now becoming necessary in order to meet with campus security requirements.

Secure file transfer using Fetch

SFTP encrypts both your password and your data crossing the network to (upload) or from (download) the SFTP server. And it is unlikely that a hacker can intercept the transfer on the net and decode it. The only downside to SFTP is that it is slightly slower than FTP, which is insignificant unless you transfer very large files.

Selecting SFTP from the "Connect using:" popup menu

As SSH supplanted Telnet because of security concerns, SFTP is replacing FTP now that clients like Fetch have support for sending passwords and data securely. With the growing importance of protecting sensitive information, better computer security is now required.

Downloading Fetch

The Fetch software for Macintosh can be downloaded from the UC Berkeley software web site.