BukDesk carries your keystrokes between your computers. You should know exactly what protects them, and what does not. This page says it in plain words. The technical paper has the detail.

The short version

  • Encrypted end to end. Everything between two paired computers is encrypted and authenticated, with keys that exist only on those two computers.
  • Nothing is accepted before you approve. Two computers pair only when a person at each one presses, having seen the same six-digit code on both screens.
  • No telemetry. BukDesk does not report on how you use it.
  • Signed updates. The installer and every update are signed by Bukchair Ltd, and the app checks the signature itself.
  • An account is not a key. An account on this site holds your licenses and billing. It cannot pair, connect or approve anything on a computer.

Pairing

You type the other computer's serial, or pick it from a list. A six-digit code shows on both screens. You check that it is the same code, and press on both computers, with a mouse.

The code shows that the two screens in front of you share one session, with no third computer in between. It says nothing about who is sitting at the other computer. Pair only computers that are yours.

What a server learns

On your local network, no server is involved. The computers talk to each other directly.

Over the internet, two computers connect through our relay. The relay passes along bytes it cannot read: it holds no key, and never receives a computer's serial, name or key. It does learn:

  • the network addresses of both computers, while they are connected;
  • that those two addresses are joined;
  • when they connect and when traffic passes;
  • how much passes.

It keeps who is connected in memory only, and writes one line of counts a minute, with no address in it. It keeps no record of who connected to whom. Someone who broke into the relay could start seeing the list above from then on. They could not read the content.

Nothing goes to the relay until a person opens a connection on both computers.

Other things that go out: a check for updates about every 12 hours, with no identifier in it, and a request when you press to buy or to fetch a license. If you sign in to an account from the app, it also keeps the settings on the allowed list, today your language and theme, in step with the account.

AI sessions

A session can send a message to another session. It cannot approve one. By default every message waits for a person to read it and press, with a mouse.

BukDesk does not keep your AI tools apart from each other. A tool that can run commands can still change files that another tool reads.

What BukDesk does not protect against

We would sooner say these than have you find them.

  • Malware, or an administrator, on one of your computers. It can read keystrokes and take the computer's key.
  • A paired computer that turns bad. Pairing is a real grant. A paired computer that you placed next to yours can type on it. With full trust, which is on by default for a computer you paired by the code on both screens, a real press of its mouse on your local network also approves messages, files and screen viewing on yours. A switch on each pairing turns that off.
  • A person who is talked into it. Someone on the phone who says they are from IT can talk a person through pairing and approving. No protocol stops someone who is believed. BukDesk's support will never ask you for a code or read one out.
  • Traffic patterns. Anyone in the path sees when traffic flows and how much.
  • Being blocked. Someone on your network can cut the connection.
  • Future quantum computers. The key exchange is not safe against a large one.
  • The key that signs updates. Whoever can use it can ship software to every user. It is kept in a cloud key service that does not let a key be exported, apart from the site and the update host, and an update waits 24 hours on each computer before it installs by itself.

Has anyone checked?

Not yet. No outside party has checked BukDesk. An independent security review is planned before launch. Until it has happened, what is on this page is our own account. When there is a report, this section will say what it backs, and no more.

Found a problem?

Write to main@bukdesk.com. The disclosure policy says what to expect.