About the CERC TRANSFER Service...

Email messages with large attachments can wreak havoc on email servers and end-users' computers. Downloading such email messages can take hours on a slow Internet connection and block any sending or receiving of messages during that time. In some cases, the download will fail repeatedly, breaking the recipient's ability to receive mail at all. Also, internet email clients add considerably to the size of the file being sent. For example, saving an Outlook message with an attachment adds up to 40% to the size of the file. To share files larger than 1MB, use CERC TRANSFER to temporarily make a file (or files) available to another user across the Internet, in a secure and efficient manner.

There are two distinct kinds of users that will be accessing the CERC TRANSFER system: inside users, who are associated with CERC running the service, and outside users, which encompasses the rest of the Internet.

An inside user is allowed to send a drop-off to anyone, whether they are an inside or outside user. An outside user is only allowed to send a drop-off to an inside user. That prompts the question: what is a drop-off? There are several ways in which a user can drop-off multiple files at once:

• Drag-and-drop multiple files at once onto the drop-off page
• Click on the "Add Files" button on the drop-off page, and select 1 or more files at once using combinations of click, Shift+click and Ctrl+click (Cmd+click on a Mac)
• Archive and compress the files into a single package and attach the resulting archive file on the drop-off page. There are many ways to archive and compress files:
  • Mac users can select the files in the Finder and "Compress" (see the <em>File</em> menu)
  • Windows users can create a "compressed folder" or use 7-Zip
  • Linux/Unix users could try "PeaZip" or "File Roller"

Creating a Drop-off

When a user creates a drop-off, they enter some identifying information about themself (name, organization, and email address); identifying information about the recipient(s) (name and email address); and choose what files should be uploaded to make the drop-off. If the files are successfully uploaded, an email is sent to the recipient(s) explaining that a drop-off has been made. This email also provides a link to access the drop-off. Other information (the Internet address and/or computer name from which the drop-off was created, for example) is retained, to help the recipient(s) check the identity of the sender.
 
Retrieval of a drop-off by a recipient can only be done with both the drop-off's Claim ID and Passcode. When dropping off files, you can choose not to send either or both of these to the recipient automatically: you would then need to send that information by hand yourself.

Making a Pick-up

There are two ways to pick-up files that have been dropped off:

• All users can click on the link provided in the notification email they were sent.
• An inside user, once logged-in to the system, can display their "Inbox" which is a list of all drop-offs waiting for them. Once logged-in, an inside user is able to access drop-offs, sent to or by them, without needing the email message.

When viewing a drop-off, the user will see quite a few things:

• The list of files that were uploaded
• The sender and recipient information that the sender entered when the drop-off was created
• The computer name and/or address from which the drop-off was created
• Optionally a list of pick-ups that have been made

The recipient has 90 days to pick-up the files. Each night, drop-offs that are older than 90 days are removed from the system.

Please note that the uploaded files are scanned for viruses, but the recipient should still exercise as much caution in downloading and opening them as is appropriate. This can be as easy as verifying with the sender mentioned in the notification email that he or she indeed made the drop-off. One can also check the computer name/address that was logged when the drop-off was created, to be sure that it is appropriate to the sender's Internet domain. However IP addresses can be faked, so the former identity verification is really the most reliable.