I searched this but I suspect this may have been covered elsewhere, so I apoligize in advance.

What are the security risks of using the ftp deployment in the Visual Studio 2005 IDE? I want to develop and test on my home pc and then use the file copy to upload to my live production server. Can I just ftp directly to the IIS directory of the live site? I mean I know I can. That is what I do on the closed network at work. But what are the security risks of doing this on the wide blue www? Is my password and username interceptable since it is sent as clear text? Wouldn't that give sniffers the ability to hijack my whole site?

I think I am not getting something. Please forgive my technotardation.

I am using it on the internet. Who... how is access limited to certain people if I am connecting to a server in Germany? You said 'as typically the only people with sufficient access would be people on your own network, or ISP". But I am sending my access credentials in clear text. I think I am concerned that they could gain 'sufficient access' by using a packet sniffer or something.

Is that how they do it? I send my log in credentials in clear text. They sniff all traffic and look for ftp login packets, identify the IP that I am loggin into. They basically use the masive processing and search power of modern computers to 'capture' my login info and then login pretending to be me. Something like that? I don't actually know what I'm talking about or all the mechanations of this process, but I understand it is something to avoid, no?

I will read the secure FTP info and try to set that up. I sincerely thank you, cathal, for the info and help.