Which statement best describes SCP?

• A. Simple Copy Protocol; unencrypted
• B. Secure Copy Protocol; encrypted over SSH
• C. Secure Copy Protocol; uses FTP
• D. Secure Copy Protocol; uses SSH to transfer files securely

Answer: (D)

SCP provides a secure way to copy files between systems by sending the data through an SSH connection. SSH handles authentication, encryption, and data integrity, so what’s transferred is protected from eavesdropping and tampering. Because SCP leverages SSH for the actual transport, it doesn’t implement its own encryption; the security comes from the SSH session. That makes the description that it uses SSH to transfer files securely the most accurate. The other options aren’t correct because SCP is not unencrypted, it does not use FTP, and describing it as simply “encrypted over SSH” is less precise than stating that the transfer itself occurs over SSH.