What is VPN Split Tunneling? How Does it Work?

VPN (Virtual Private Network) is one of the best security tools to protect online privacy. With the help of a VPN, you can instantly set up a secure connection on the web, as all your network traffic passes through an encrypted tunnel. If you browse the web using a VPN, it makes it almost impossible for hackers or intruders to snoop into your online activities. Haven’t we always heard advice about choosing a strong password, stay cautious of suspicious links? Similarly, using a VPN is something that each one of us should adopt to boost your digital privacy. If you don’t want your personal and sensitive info to be exposed on the Internet, a VPN can protect you from keeping your online identity intact.

In the VPN terminology, have you ever heard of the term split tunneling at any point? Let’s learn all about what is VPN split tunneling, how does it work, and whether you should enable this security feature on your VPN service or not.

Also read: How to Install a VPN on your router.

What is VPN Split Tunneling?

Split tunneling is a robust VPN mechanism that allows VPN service providers to decide when the traffic should traverse between two end-points. If a specific VPN service enables the split tunneling feature, the network traffic will still pass through an encrypted tunnel but be routed without increasing the network traffic.

Hence, split tunneling allows a VPN service to route their traffic efficiently that doesn’t slow down the connection speeds.

To know more about what is VPN split tunneling and how to enable it on Windows 10, visit this link.

How Does it Work? Why is it useful?

As we’ve roughly understood, the split tunneling process’s sole objective is to reduce the network congestion when VPNs are heavily used. Split tunneling can prove out to be super useful for corporate networks. Due to reduced latency, most corporate or internal networks prefer using VPN services with split tunneling features to experience lightning-fast connection speeds while making the most of network bandwidths.

Split tunneling diverts the network traffic and makes sure that only a certain amount of network traffic is passing through the encrypted tunnel, and the rest is redirected to other routes.

Yes, there are Downsides too!

Split tunneling has its own set of pros and cons. So, yes, there are a few drawbacks of using split tunneling on VPNs that one cannot certainly overlook. VPN split tunneling brings the entire corporate network under a huge amount of risk. If a hacker or intruder tries to penetrate the internal network, they can potentially sabotage the whole network through one weak link.

Data protection is crucial; hence, exposing the entire organization’s data to reduce network traffic suggests doesn’t sound like a feasible idea.

Also read: Is My VPN Working? How to Test for VPN Leaks?

Download Systweak VPN for Windows

Systweak VPN offers you an extensive security solution with 100% online anonymity, data privacy, and a secure platform to unlock a wide range of media content, including movies, TV shows, events, and more. It features more than 4500 remote servers in 200+ locations worldwide that you can choose from.

With Systweak VPN, you can easily bypass geo-restrictions and censorship without exposing your online identity. Systweak VPN follows a strict zero-log policy, 256-bit military-grade encryption, to ensure that your private and sensitive info never comes at stake. It also includes a Kill-switch feature that protects your sensitive information from being tracked at the time of connection drops or network failures.

Wrap Up

We hope our post helped you clear all your doubts regarding what is VPN split tunneling, why is it important, pros and cons, and everything else that you should know. Do you think the split tunneling feature should come embedded with all VPN services? Should split tunneling be mandatorily enabled with every VPN?

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments box below.