FTP port forwarding in SSH.. Secure??

zantar_at_verizon.net
Date: 02/20/04 

Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 05:10:31 GMT

I was trying the "FTP Port Forwarding"
to secure the FTP transfer). I really like it, but I have a question:
On the unix manual pages (man ssh2), the description of the "-L"
option indicates that part of the connection is not secure when you
use FTP Port Forwarding, could someone please explain me what part is
not secure? Is it referring to the FTP data which is non-encrypted
inside the tunnel? Below is text from manual
page for F-Secure SSH2

SSH2 SSH2(1)
                                                                 
NAME
     ssh2 - secure shell client (remote login program)
   ....
   ...
     -L [protocol/][localhost:]port:host:hostport or -L
          socks/[localhost:]port
          The given port on the local (client) host is forwarded
          to the given host and port on the remote side. This
          allocates a listener port port on the local side.
          Whenever a connection is made to this listener, the
          connection is forwarded over the secure channel and a
          connection is made to host:hostport from the remote
          machine (this latter connection will not be secure, it
<----- why
not secure?
          is a normal TCP connection). Port forwarding can also
          be specified in the configuration file.

Thank for any input anyone has here to clarify

-Nate