Certified File Transfer Professional (CFTP) Programme

File transfer is a continually evolving landscape of new compliance requirements, changing security standards and enhanced product features. It’s also notoriously difficult to prove your knowledge to current or future employers.

The CFTP is the only vendor-independent file transfer training programme that will enhance and certify your knowledge.

It is ideal for IT professionals wanting to learn more about secure file transfer, or those wanting to certify existing knowledge ahead of their next promotion or job move.

This low cost user-friendly e-learning programme will have a big impact on your IT career.

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CFTP benefits

Become more employable

Leading companies in finance, insurance, consulting and many other industries hire CFTP qualified staff around the world. Hundreds of people across four continents have been trained on file transfer concepts and technology though the CFTP programme.

CPD certified

The CFTP course is CPD accredited (Continuing Professional Development). This means it has been independently assessed by the CPD Certification Service, and meets their rigorous standards. You’ll be able to add at least seven hours to your CPD record.

Update your knowledge

Data protection law and file transfer technology continually evolves. CFTP knowledge can contribute towards key areas of compliance and standards such as GDPR or FIPS 140-2. Plus it’s vendor-independent, so knowledge is transferable across different products.

Online course

This is easy to consume online training. Work through the course materials at your own pace, then take the open book exam when you’re ready. It is completely flexible around you, whatever time of the day or night.

Created by experts

The CFTP certification programme was created with the help of well renowned experts within the file transfer industry. Contributors include file transfer solution vendors as well as consultancies and professionals.

Quick and cost-effective

There are no lengthy modules or waiting for results. We estimate that most data transfer professionals can complete the CFTP programme within eight hours. It is a low cost way to improve and certify your knowledge.

“Welcome to the home of the CFTP training programme. Our aim is to give IT professionals the file transfer training they need to implement secure file transfer in their organisations, whilst giving a professional certification to the learner. Focus on file transfer is becoming more and more important with compliance standards such as GDPR. The secure transfer of files and personally identifiable data needs to be processed correctly. An understanding of the technology and its capabilities will help organisations to stay compliant, improve efficiency and save time. We hope you find the course useful and look forward to welcoming you to the CFTP community.”

James Lewis

Managing Director, Pro2col Ltd and Programme Lead, CFTP

Getting started is simple:

STEP 1 : Purchase the course

STEP 2 : Work through course content

STEP 3 : Take the open book exam

STEP 4 : Download your certification

Programme overview

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Course

Online self-paced training
Learn via videos and study guide
Usually completed in 5-7 hours

Exam

90-minute open book exam
60 randomly generated questions
Passmark of 80% (3 attempts)

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Resources

Downloadable study guide
8 accompanying video lessons
Full lifetime access to resources

Certification

Downloadable certificate of achievement
CPD certificate can be requested
Digital badge for CVs, LinkedIn etc

Course Content

Lesson 1: Managed File Transfer (MFT) Concepts

Module includes the following:

When to use and when not to use MFT
Clients and servers – what are the differences?
How different protocols provide data at rest and data in motion
Introduction into encryption, hashing and PKI, with practical examples
Overview of IPv4 and IPv6 and how changes may affect MFT

Lesson 2: Basic Protocols

Explains how the commonly used file transfer protocols operate:

FTP and FTPS – what they are, how they work
Active versus Passive mode
Implicit versus Explicit mode
How SFTP works and why you might want to use it
Key and certificate authentication

Lesson 3: Advanced Protocols

Examines other protocols that may be used:

HTTP, HTTPS, advanced web-based file transfers and WebDAV – how and where you would use each one
Email protocols
NDM (Connect:DIRECT)

Lesson 4: Applicability Statement Protocols

Takes the mystique out of the AS* protocols:

Detailed review of AS1, AS2 & AS3
Synchronous versus Asynchronous
MDNs

Lesson 5: Accelerated File Transfer

Covers UDP-based file acceleration and related techniques for transferring large files quickly:

Why UDP is preferable over TCP for large transfers
Multi-threading

Lesson 6: File Synchronization and Sharing

A look at this fast-growing segment of MFT:

End-user transfers with email plugins
Collaboration spaces in MFT systems

Lesson 7: “At Rest” Encryption

Covers UDP-based file acceleration and related techniques for transferring large files quickly:

Why UDP is preferable over TCP for large transfers
Multi-threading

Lesson 8: File Transfer Operations

Exploration of the less well defined areas of MFT

Troubleshooting transfer
Service level agreements
Workflows
Scheduling and triggers

CFTP advisors and contributors

An expert panel has contributed to the CFTP course content, reviews and updates. This includes developers of JSCAPE, South River Technologies, Coviant, Ipswitch (now Progress), Serv-U, SolarWinds and other products. We would like to thank all our consultants, vendors and other experts for their valued input.