MeriTalk and Axway have released a report entitled Why Encrypt? Federal File Transfer Report, based on an online survey of 200 federal IT and information security professionals. The study reveals key vulnerabilities within US federal agencies due to employees' use of insecure methods like FTP to exchange information -- 60 percent of respondents use FTP to transfer files, and 54 percent do not currently monitor for FTP use within their agencies.

"This report shows a tremendous opportunity for the federal government to apply common security policies across all forms of interactions, including file transfers and e-mails, and to develop and enforce government-wide file transfer security standards," says Axway chief security officer Taher Elgamal.

Click here to access the report.