Non-profit org file transfer software recommendation

[Sam_Smith]

I'm volunteering for a non-profit organization based in Chicago that collects community support for global initiatives through the collection of digital signatures and related supporter created profiles & data. We often have to transfer large files, more than several gigabytes, to organizations located throughout the world. The problem is some of these organization are in countries with a weaker IT infrastructure and the large file transfers can take a very very long time or the transfer completely fails due to the unstable network in some countries. Mailing hard drives or using most free transfer products isn't possible because we need to ensure that we are securing our supporters data and privacy. Does anyone know of such a software product that could solve this issue. As we are a non-profit, we focus on spending on our ground game and don't have extensive funds to commit towards software. Any suggestion or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ken g6]

Mailing hard drives or using most free transfer products isn't possible because we need to ensure that we are securing our supporters data and privacy.

Can you take the time to encrypt the files you're sending? 7-zip uses AES-256, which should be enough except maybe against governments.

Are you sending the same files to all or most of the "organizations located throughout the world"? If so, you could set up a private uTorrent tracker. It's too bad I can't find a way to easily limit the IPs that can connect to it.

 

[lxskllr]

bittorrent should cover the sending of files since it's checksummed, and fault tolerant.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

I suppose you could use a self-extracting WinRAR with recovery records and encryption, then split the archives into manageable chunks. Which can then be downloaded individually, so its not just one large file transfer without fault tolerance.

But some assembly is required in the other end. That might not be acceptable in all cases.

bittorrent should cover the sending of files since it's checksummed, and fault tolerant.

Otherwise, what lxskllr said.

 

[TheRyuu]

Mailing hard drives or using most free transfer products isn't possible because we need to ensure that we are securing our supporters data and privacy.

This is still viable if the HDD/SSD is encrypted. There would be several methods to do it either using something built-in like Bitlocker or a third-party tool like Truecrypt or whatever the hot new fork of that is now. If the network is truly as terrible as you make it out to be this may be the only viable method that won't take months to do.

Provided you use a strong passphrase (you could honestly just generate a long completely random one in this case which could be sent through email) the data is going to be safe if you send it through the mail. This method is a bit predicated on the fact that you're doing it "the right way" but the data will be safe. If you're paranoid about doing it this way you should use a fresh drive and turn encryption on before writing anything to it. Then you can just email the password (which could also be encrypted, e.g. pgp) which sounds a lot better than transferring stuff over a terrible network.

If the network isn't actually that bad then I would suggest looking into using ssh to transfer stuff. You'll have to figure out how you want to run the ssh server but with a program like Filezilla on the receiving end of things it could securely transfer your files. cygwin or msys2[1] could probably be used to run an ssh server on Windows. If you know what you're doing this is probably the easiest method although I admit there's kind of a steep barrier to entry regarding the setup of it.

[1] https://msys2.github.io/

 

[PliotronX]

Perhaps look into a private group on Demonsaw or set up a private router altogether? I am not sure how it behaves over shoddy WAN but it's got to be better than VPN.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfyokykPEsE

 

[Sam_Smith]

We compress files using a method like you mention, but it doesn't seem to make a big difference for transfer speed. Ah you're saying that a private torrent wouldn't actually be secure?

 

[Bardock]

I work in non profit and we have a linux server with sabre/dav http://sabre.io/ End users map a network drive to the sabre/dav and can transfer files. It's a lot like ftp. Connections are over https and everything is logged, needs approved account and password to connect. I'm pretty happy with it but not 100% software for windows but I figure a penguin guy wouldn't care about diving into linux a bit.

 

[yinan]

This also sounds like something that can be done with a Powershell script and BITS. Not pretty but it might work.

 

[Phynaz]

http://www.accellion.com/

 

[TheRyuu]

I forgot about this but Microsoft has recently release OpenSSH for Windows[1] which is perfect for this situation here. Setting up the server may be a little tricky but there are some instructions here[2]. I would recommend setting up public key authentication between the two systems. You can use puttygen[3] to generate the keys (save them as OpenSSH keys) on the destination computer. After that all you have to do is add the public key to the server and the private key to your sftp program of choice on the destination computer (that will receive the files). Filezilla[4] is probably your best bet for a GUI for doing this. You'll have to add the host computer with SFTP as the type of server.

This does require some technical knowledge of how to do it but is free, as fast as your connection will allow, is secure and doesn't resort to using torrents or other "hacky" ways of trying to transfer the files. All you'll have is an ssh server which authenticated clients will be able to connect to. If you can pull this method off it is in all likelihood the best way to do this.

[1] https://github.com/PowerShell/Win32-OpenSSH
[2] https://winscp.net/eng/docs/guide_windows_openssh_server
[3] http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html
[4] https://filezilla-project.org/

 

[John Connor]

bittorrent should cover the sending of files since it's checksummed, and fault tolerant.

This right here! I was gonna say, you want a p2p application.

I found this service, apparently created in part from Cambridge. I can't vouch for them as I have never used it, but this might be what you are looking for. https://infinit.io/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinit_%28file_transfer%29

Also, you could encrypt the files with 7Z using a self extracting SFX archive. Those archives are AES256 bit encrypted. I use that to backup my website's. The Wiki states all files are encrypted prior to leaving the computer.

 

[John Connor]

AES-256, which should be enough except maybe against governments.

AES 256 is rated for up to Top Secret.

In a special cryptographic module apparently.

AES became effective as a federal government standard on May 26, 2002 after approval by the Secretary of Commerce. AES is included in the ISO/IEC 18033-3 standard. AES is available in many different encryption packages, and is the first (and only) publicly accessible cipher approved by the National Security Agency (NSA) for top secret information when used in an NSA approved cryptographic module (see Security of AES, below).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Encryption_Standard