Rethinking secure file transfer for a cross-domain world

The UK's National Cyber Security Centre recently issued a blunt warning to government and industry alike, warning that many systems are now connected "in ways their designers never anticipated", built on protocols never intended to withstand the sophistication of today's attackers.

That warning applies to all organizations relying on cross-domain processes to move data between environments with different security levels, and especially to complex cyber-physical systems where data flows between standard IT and operational technology (OT) assets.

File transfer is one of these fundamental processes but remains one of the most often overlooked.

Every invoice sent to a supplier, every firmware update pushed to a factory floor, every report shared with a regulator is data crossing between systems with different levels of trust.

For years, file transfer security has been treated as a solved problem.

Enterprises were happy to encrypt the channel, confirm delivery, and move on.

That approach made sense when systems were simpler, and threats moved more slowly.

However, it no longer reflects reality.

Why perimeter-based trust no longer holds Most file transfer platforms were never built with security as the primary goal.

They were built to move data reliably between systems, encrypt the connection, confirm that a file arrived, and log that the job was done.

Whether the file itself was safe was rarely part of the equation.

That gap provides a consistent way for cyber attackers to gain a foothold in their targets' systems.

A file transfer platform sits between organizations by design, trusted by both sides precisely because it's meant to be routine infrastructure.

The traditional Managed File Transfer (MFT) model is built to automate file delivery, not to defend against attack.