This used to be worse, 10-40MB/s read/write to the SSD unless I kill it from task manager.
Last update lowered it to 1-5MB/s

Interestingly, it doesn't disconnect the VPN if I kill these processes. So that means it NOT even needed for VPN.

What is defguard doing in the background that requires constant Disk IO even when it is not being used?

Also, closing defguard client window, or the tray icon, doesn't close it, you have to kill the process in task manager to stop it from using resources idle.

Please clarify because this looks like a security issue that I feel I should report to the company IT I work for.
But I rather seek clarification first.