In addition to data communication through an SSH session, the SSH protocol is used to support SCP for secure file transfer. When using SCP, Branch Gateway is the client, and an SCP server must be installed on the management station. After users are defined on the SCP server, Branch Gateway acts as an SCP client.

The process of establishing an SCP session is the same process as described in SSH protocol support, except that the roles of Branch Gateway and the client computer are reversed.

To perform file transfers secured by SCP, Branch Gateway launches a local SSH client using CLI. This establishes a secured channel to the secured file server. The Branch Gateway authenticates itself to the server by providing a user name and password. With a Windows-based SSH server (WinSSHD), the user name provided must be a defined user on the Windows machine with read/write privileges. The files transferred through SCP are saved in the C:\Documents and Settings\username directory.