How Do I Send Data via the Internet?
How Do I Receive Data via the Internet?
What About Confidentiality ?
What About Encryption ?
Acceptable Data Formats
Acceptable Media (for non-internet based data)
Sending Data via e-mail
Sending Data via FTP
Sending Data using Netscape
The Internet. Does it spell the end of Direct Mail as we know it, or is it just another powerful tool in the Westminster arsenal?
Well if you're reading this page, I guess you know the answer.
And if you are reading this page using Netscape Navigator version 2.0 or higher, you already have all the tools you need at your disposal and can skip directly to our Netscape Transfer section. Of course if you're not using Netscape it's not the end of the world as there are many other wonderful tools available.
Many of the tools required for file transfer, encoding and encryption are available from our
website public download directory, or our
FTP public download directory
How Do I Send Data via the Internet?
This is the first question that most clients ask when they get internet access. And there are two answers. . . e-mail and FTP.
In either case you should always ensure that we receive instructions (including a record layout), either accompanying the files, or via fax, e-mail or snail-mail. We receive dozens of files via the internet every day and often cannot tell where a file came from just by looking at its contents.
Of course this is also true of tapes and diskettes couriered directly to our office. You would be surprised at how many files show up here with no label, no documentation, no READ.ME file, just a mailing list called, you guessed it "MAILLIST.TXT"!.
Our e-mail address for data transfers and notification is data@westminster.ca and if you are viewing this page in a browser that supports sending mail with MIME-encoded attachments you only need to click the link to send us your file(s).
Our FTP address is ftp://ftp.westminster.ca/private/ and as above, if your browser supports FTP uploads, just click on the link and then select File | Upload File, or the equivalent command for your software, and the file will be sent to us.
If you use a transfer program such as Filezilla, you will be prompted for a username and password.
Username: anonymous
Password: use your email address
How Do I Receive Data via the Internet?
Usually, you will get your data back (if that's part of the job requirement), the same way we received it. However some clients will send data via FTP but request it back via e-mail. That's just fine with us as long as you are specific in your instructions.
Generally speaking though, if FTP is your preferred method we will make the file available for you to
take back from our site unless you have your own anonymous FTP server which is available 24 hours a day.
What about Confidentiality ?
Good question! But the answer really depends on your level of paranoia, and the perceived value of the information you are sending.
Standard e-mail is the least secure method of transmission because the data may be sent via several computer systems on the web, and while it may reside there for only seconds, or minutes, the possibility exists for someone at that site to look at it.
The chances of this are very tiny when you consider the volumes of e-mail in the system and the speed with which everything happens, but nonetheless it is still a possibility. The dangers of your e-mail being read by an unauthorised individual on its way to us are also significantly reduced because Westminster maintains its own Web Server and your e-mail is already on our computer when it reaches its destination.
Most people use a dial-up account to access the internet, which means that arriving mail will remain on the computer system of their ISP (Internet Service Provider) until they download it on to their machine. While this increases the security risk on e-mail we send back to you, you should remember that you also take a risk every time you cross the street, fly in a plane, etc.
The alternative to e-mail is FTP upload or download. FTP (File Transfer Protocol), is a method of communication in which two computer systems are directly connected, and data is transferred from one to the other. Unlike e-mail your messages and mailing lists do not hop from machine to machine finding the quickest path from you to us, but are directly deposited or retrieved from our Web Server.
While it is still theoretically possible for someone to eavesdrop on your communications, this is similar to someone placing a wiretap on your phone line and about as likely.
The other great benefit of FTP is that you don't have to worry about encoding/decoding of binary information since FTP is designed for binary transmission.
Most FTP sites show a directory of all files residing in the directory to which you are sending or from which you are receiving your data, and allow files to be deleted or renamed. We know of one large Laser House to whom we send files on a regular basis at which we have the ability to download and delete files we didn't send. This means in theory that anyone could visit this site, download a file that appeared there, modify or replace the data, and then re-send it without anyone knowing.
. . .Not very secure!
Our FTP site incorporates the following security features:
In order to protect the privacy of our clients the directory listing features of FTP are supressed on our
private upload/download directory.
This means that after you send a file, you will not be able to see it on our site or download a copy back to your machine, but neither will anyone else.
In addition since it is not inconceivable that two or more organizations could send a file called MAILLIST on the same day, and we wouldn't want one to overwrite the other, you cannot re-send a file using the same name (or the name of a file that already resides on the directory).
If you need to re-send a file to us you will have to use a different name for the second transmission. If this happens it is essential that you tell us to ignore the first file. I know that sounds obvious but it doesn't hurt to stress it.
While FTP has the ability to delete, and rename files on the destination machine, we have disabled these features too, in order to prevent tampering by unauthorised individuals.
Since FTP uses a direct connection between two computers, we cannot send files back to you unless you have your own FTP server site which is available 24 hours a day.
In this case, we will post the file in the
private upload/download directory and change the permissions to allow you to download it at your convenience.
The file still will not show up on any directory listing, and you must explicitly request the name we have given it. Because only you will know of its existence, it is impossible for anyone else to retrieve the file.
What about Encryption ?
If you still feel that you need more security on your file transfers, then you can encrypt your files prior to transmission. Our
public access directory contains a number of shareware and freeware programs available for download, including
PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) for Windows.
Essentially PGP uses a method of encryption that is so secure that not even the US Federal Government can crack it. They even classify it as
Munitions for export restrictions, though the PGP program is freeware and can be distributed within North America.
PGP uses the concept of Public and Private Keys which are used to perform the encription and decription processes. Your public key is made widely available, while your private key is kept secure. Anyone can encrypt a file using your public key, but once this is done only you can decrypt it with your private key. Even the person who encrypted the file is unable to decrypt it again, because that process requires your private key, which you naturally keep private.
Further security is possible if you choose to
sign your file with your own private key. It works this way.
You send a file encrypting it using MY PUBLIC KEY and signing it with YOUR PRIVATE KEY. This means that not only are we the only ones able to decrypt the file (which requires MY PRIVATE KEY), but I can now certify that the file originated with you since the electronic signature can be decoded with YOUR PUBLIC KEY which you freely supply to anyone who wants it. Because the signature is decodable with your public key it must have been encrypted with YOUR PRIVATE KEY and therefore originated from you, and no-one else.
Pretty neat eh?
If you are interested, you can read
a more detailed explanation of how PGP works.
The Westminster
Public Key is located in our
public directory for you to download. If you plan on using PGP encryption on the files that you send us it is essential that you send us your Public Key, otherwise we will be unable to decrypt it at our end.
