How secure is it to connect to an ftp server (iPhone SDK)

Question

How secure is it to connect to an ftp server in an iPhone application? I want to connect to my ftp server in my app but am worried that the username and password can be revealed.

Answer 1

Any time you use FTP, assuming there's no other connection security (eg being tunnelled through an SSH or VPN connection), your username and password are sent in clear text.

This is why you should use a protocol like SFTP or SCP for file transfer.

Answer 2

It's not secure at all. Authentication is cleartext, and the nature of FTP makes it difficult to secure by bolting on SSH. VPN would work, if you have that.

FTP, like telnet, should be avoided. Use sftp instead.