Anonymous FTP is used to allow a user to access files from anywhere on the Internet without the requirement of a user name and password. Using the user name “anonymous” the user will bypass local network security settings and be able to access publicly available files on a remote host. If you are running your own FTP server you can grant access to users to allow them to download files.

Anonymous FTP provides access to any folder that has the permissions set to public whether these are read or write. Users will have access to upload and download files from the server if they have the correct permissions. It is advisable to configure the folders that you want them to access with public permissions. Other folders you do not want to allow anonymousaccess to should be configured to private. It is possible not only to configure directories but individual files too. If there was one file in a directory that you want to stop access to then you can by editing the permissions. Correct setup of permissions will ensure that anonymous FTP users only access data that you want them to.