FTP does not take any precautions to protect information transitted during a session. This includes your username, password, and any files transmitted.
SFTP encrypts the session, preventing the casual detection of your username, password or anything you've transmitted. SFTP also provides some verification that the remote host is really the host it claims to be. Use of SFTP is encouraged. All department UNIX, Linux, and Mac OS X systems operate SFTP servers. All department systems have SFTP clients installed.
FTP is okay to use with anonymous sessions (sessions where username is "anonymous" and your email address is transmitted as a password) because no private information is transmitted.
