What is a VPN tunnel? How to shield your online activity

GB News Reporter
Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:53:25 +0000

If you’re one of the many Britons turning to VPNs to protect your privacy from prying eyes and potential hackers, you may have hit a wall with confusing jargon.

Encryption, kill switches, IP addresses — the terminology alone can feel like a second language, especially if you’re new to the world of VPNs.

At the heart of it all is the VPN tunnel. This is a secure, encrypted pathway between your device and the internet. Instead of your data travelling openly across the web — where it can be seen or intercepted — it’s wrapped in layers of encryption and sent through this protected “tunnel” to its destination.

It's similar to sending a private message through a sealed, invisible pipe. No one outside the tunnel can see what’s inside, where it’s going, or what you’re doing online.

GBN Tech put together an in-depth guide on how VPN tunnelling protects your online activity.

What is a VPN?

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is software that protects and anonymises everything you do online. VPNs can conceal your online activities by routing traffic through an encrypted tunnel that connects to secure servers worldwide.

The most reliable VPNs use the same encryption standards as governments in the United Kingdom and the United States, ensuring that even your Internet Service Provider (ISP) on Wi-Fi cannot record the websites you visit, the duration of your sessions on each site, or your current location. This protection extends to advertisers, trackers, and hackers, preventing them from monitoring your online behaviour.

Furthermore, personal information entered into online forms and sensitive data transmitted to and from your device will be safeguarded from hackers using strong encryption provided by a VPN.

What is a VPN tunnel?

A VPN tunnel is a secure, encrypted connection established between your device and a VPN server over the internet. It’s called a tunnel because it creates a private pathway for your online data, protecting it from interception, monitoring, and tampering by outside parties like your Internet Service Provider (ISP), hackers, or government agencies.

VPN tunnels work by dividing your internet traffic into data packets. The VPN software then encrypts these packets, turning them into unreadable code. It wraps, or encapsulates, the encrypted packet inside a new, unencrypted outer packet with a new header indicating the VPN server as the destination.

Using the tunnel, it is then sent across the public internet to the VPN server.

The VPN server receives the data, removes the outer header, and decrypts the original packet. Then it sends the decrypted data to a website, app or other program using the VPN server's IP address.

This whole process ensures that your privacy is protected and your internet traffic is hidden — stopping other eyes from getting a look at your online activities.

There are also different types of tunnels. There is a full tunnel where all your internet traffic is routed through the encrypted tunnel. This provides maximum security and privacy but might slightly reduce internet speed due to the encryption overhead.

However, many VPN providers use split tunnelling. Because routing your internet traffic through a VPN can slow your internet speeds down, split tunnelling allows you to choose which apps or websites use the VPN tunnel and which ones bypass it and connect directly to the internet, allowing for the best possible speeds where you need it.

Some banking apps, websites and apps can also block VPNs, which is why split tunnelling can be extremely helpful.

Why should you use ExpressVPN?

ExpressVPN ensures every single bit of your internet traffic is secure through its tunnels thanks to its strong encryption, lightning-fast speeds and split tunnelling features. You can also customise exactly how you want to use your VPN – whether that’s a full tunnel or split tunnelling.

ExpressVPN is an award-winning VPN with gongs from the likes of Techradar, CNET, and Tom's Guide, with praise for its servers dedicated to fast, reliable streaming from anywhere in the world.

Monthly prices start from £1.99 a month, and unlock ExpressVPN across up to 14 devices. Once installed, connect to a UK server from ExpressVPN's network of over 3,000 servers across 105 countries.

The service uses proprietary Lightway protocol for enhanced speed and reliability, ensuring smooth streaming of festival performances.

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It also works across all your devices — Linux, Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS, smart TVs and streaming devices like Fire TV Stick. You can even use ExpressVPN's MediaStreamer feature to watch on devices that don't normally support VPNs, such as PlayStation or Xbox.

ExpressVPN includes a 30-day money-back guarantee, allowing you to watch the entire festival risk-free and recover your investment if you're not satisfied with the service.

VPNs are not illegal and are often mandated by companies to improve online security for employees. However, it's your responsibility to ensure that you're using these popular apps for legal use. Always check the terms and conditions of the streaming service.

Protect your online privacy with a subscription from ExpressVPN

Protect your personal information and encrypt everything you do online for just £1.99 with the latest ExpressVPN deal. That equates to under 7p per day, trouncing NordVPN, its biggest competitor

ExpressVPN adds military-grade encryption across up to 10x devices, including iPhone, Android, Linux, Windows, Mac, Fire TV, and dozens more, to secure your internet traffic from prying eyes, advertisers, and governments. You'll benefit from an extra 4 months free with a two-year plan

Benefits of ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN is particularly well-suited for streaming, gaming and protecting your privacy as it boasts VPN server locations in 105 countries, providing access to global coverage.

It offers ultra-fast speeds on a 10-Gbps network, essential for high-quality streaming without buffering. With military-grade encryption, a strict no-logs policy, and features like split tunnelling and a kill switch, your online activity stays private.

Based in the British Virgin Islands — outside Five Eyes jurisdiction — it avoids mandatory data retention laws, which means that even if the company were collecting data (it's not), law enforcement from the UK and US would be unable to compel ExpressVPN to hand over any information about its subscribers.

ExpressVPN supports a wide range of devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, smart TVs, and routers. There's no limit on the number of ExpressVPN apps that you can download on your devices, and with a single subscription, you can connect to the VPN on 10x gadgets at once.

It also has a dedicated team that optimises the service for major streaming platforms. Round-the-clock customer support is available if you encounter any issues during race weekend.