Editing Secure copy protocol (section)

{{short description|Network protocol for copying files between computers}}
{{Infobox software
| name                   = scp
| logo                   = 
| screenshot             = 
| screenshot size        = 
| caption                = 
| developer              = The OpenSSH Project
| released               = 
| latest release version = 
| latest release date    = 
| repo                   = {{URL|https://github.com/openssh/openssh-portable/}}
| programming language   = [[C (programming language)|C]]
| operating system       = [[Cross-platform]]
| genre                  = [[Command (computing)|Command]], [[Communication protocol]]
| license                = 
| website                = {{URL|https://www.openssh.com/}}
}}
'''Secure copy protocol''' ('''SCP''') is a means of securely transferring [[computer file]]s between a local host and a remote [[server (computing)|host]] or between two remote hosts. It is based on the [[Secure Shell]] (SSH) protocol.<ref>{{cite web|title=Linux and Unix scp command|url=https://www.computerhope.com/unix/scp.htm|access-date=4 August 2015|website=Computer Hope}}</ref> "SCP" commonly refers to both the Secure Copy Protocol and the program itself.<ref name="Pechanec">{{cite web|url=https://blogs.oracle.com/janp/entry/how_the_scp_protocol_works|title=How the SCP protocol works|last=Pechanec|first=Jan|author-link=Jan Pechanec|publisher=Oracle|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215184048/https://blogs.oracle.com/janp/entry/how_the_scp_protocol_works|archive-date=2017-02-15|work=Jan Pechanec's weblog|access-date=4 August 2015}}</ref>

According to [[OpenSSH]] developers in April 2019, SCP is outdated, inflexible and not readily fixed; they recommend the use of more modern protocols like [[SSH File Transfer Protocol|SFTP]] and [[rsync]] for file transfer.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.openssh.com/txt/release-8.0|title=OpenSSH 8.0|work=OpenSSH Release Notes|date=17 April 2019}}</ref> As of  OpenSSH version 9.0, <code>scp</code> client therefore uses SFTP for file transfers by default instead of the legacy SCP/RCP protocol.<ref name=ossh9>{{cite web |date=8 April 2022 |title=OpenSSH 9.0 |url=https://www.openssh.com/txt/release-9.0 |work=OpenSSH Release Notes}}</ref>