SFTP (which stands for SHH File Transfer Protocol) is a popular secure alternative, but there are many others.
If your data is compromised en route to its destination, your credentials (username and password) and your data can easily be read. Among its many flaws, plain FTP doesn’t encrypt the data you’re transferring. When I was putting together this list, this was my criteria: How we created this list of the best free FTP software applications