computing has pervaded through every aspect of Information technology in past decade. It has become easier to process plethora of data generated by various devices in real time with the advent of cloud networks. The privacy of user's data is maintained by data centers around the world and hence it has become feasible to operate on that data from lightweight portable devices. But with ease of processing comes the security aspect of the data. One such security aspect is secure file transfer either internally within cloud or externally from one cloud network to another. File management is central to cloud computing and it's paramount to address the security concerns which arise out of it. This survey paper aims to elucidate the various protocols which can be used for secure file transfer and analyze the ramifications of using each protocol. Keywordstransfer protocol (FTP), Secure Shell (SSH), Secure file transfer protocol (SFTP), Secure Socket layer (SSL), Transport layer security (TLS), IPSec, Tunneling, Secure copy (SCP), File Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer (FTPS)