How It Works

In traditional networking, a network client application connects to the corresponding server directly. Shown below:

In the above diagram, the client computer is located somewhere across the Internet. In order for it to reach a server, such as the Web Server (192.168.0.8) or the Mail Server (192.168.0.65), the network traffic (originated by a network application on the client computer, e.g. Internet Explorer or an email client program) has to traverse through the Internet and the Firewall. Because the Firewall allows traffic to the Web Server and/or Mail Server, the client is able to communicate with them.

We have a firewall in our diagram. Is the traffic between the client computer and, say, the Web Server secure then? The answer is No. The function of the firewall in our diagram (and most of the firewalls you get from the market) is essentially to block unwanted traffic or network connections. If the destination of a network connection is allowed, the firewall lets it go; otherwise the connection is blocked. That's what firewalls do. It has nothing to do with protecting the bits and bytes that flows in the network pipes!

Many network protocols such as HTTP, FTP, POP, SMTP, etc. are clear-text protocols. When you transmit anything - including your username and passwords - through such protocols, the information sent from either side of the connections is put on the network carrier as is, without any protection added.

With the introduction of K-Secure VPN^™, all network traffic are encrypted and compressed before they go out of the client machine, as shown in the following diagram.

In this diagram the client computer is armed with the K-Secure VPN^™ Client and network traffic are encrypted and compressed. Depending on the VPN rules configured on the client machine, only the corresponding VPN server can decompress and decrypt the traffic. It must be mentioned that because such decompression and decryption happen in a secure environment, e.g. inside the company LAN, data sent and received over the public network are free from eavesdropping.