Last Updated on August 11, 2025 by Arnav Sharma
The remote work revolution has forced organizations to make some tough choices about network security. At the heart of many IT discussions sits a fundamental question: should we route all employee traffic through our VPN, or allow some to go directly to the internet?
This isn’t just a technical debate. It’s about balancing security, performance, and user experience in a world where your workforce might be scattered across coffee shops, home offices, and co-working spaces around the globe.
Understanding Network Tunneling: The Foundation
Think of network tunneling like a protective tube that carries your data safely from point A to point B. Just as you might use a covered walkway to stay dry between buildings during a rainstorm, tunneling creates a secure path for data traveling across potentially dangerous territory like the public internet.
This concept becomes especially important when employees need to access company resources from outside your office network. Without proper tunneling, sensitive data travels naked across the internet, vulnerable to anyone with the right tools and malicious intent.
VPNs are the most common implementation of tunneling technology. They create encrypted connections that make your data unreadable to outsiders, even if they manage to intercept it. But here’s where things get interesting: not all VPN configurations handle traffic the same way.
What is Forced Tunneling?
Forced tunneling is the security-first approach. When implemented, every single bit of network traffic from an employee’s device gets funneled through your corporate VPN gateway. We’re talking about everything โ their morning email check, that YouTube video they’re watching during lunch, and yes, even their weekend Netflix binge if they forget to disconnect.
I’ve seen this approach in action at financial institutions and healthcare organizations where compliance isn’t negotiable. One bank I worked with had such strict requirements that even checking the weather forecast on a company laptop meant that request traveled through their data center in Chicago before reaching weather.com.
The benefits are clear:
- Complete visibility into all network activity
- Centralized security controls protect every connection
- Simplified compliance reporting
- No gray areas about what’s protected and what isn’t
But there’s a catch. Remember that bank example? Their employees in London were routing traffic through Chicago just to check local news websites. The latency was noticeable, and internet performance suffered. When you force all traffic through a single chokepoint, physics starts working against you.
What is Split Tunneling?
Split tunneling takes a more nuanced approach. It’s like having a smart traffic controller that knows which cars need to take the secure tunnel and which ones can safely use the regular highway.
With split tunneling, only traffic destined for corporate resources goes through the VPN. Everything else โ streaming services, social media, general web browsing โ takes the direct route to the internet using the employee’s regular connection.
I remember implementing this for a software company with developers who needed to access both internal code repositories and external documentation sites. The difference in their productivity was night and day. They could quickly reference Stack Overflow or GitHub while maintaining secure access to proprietary systems.
The advantages include:
- Faster internet performance for non-corporate traffic
- Reduced load on corporate network infrastructure
- Better user experience for bandwidth-heavy activities
- Lower networking costs
The trade-off? You’re giving up some control and visibility. That direct internet traffic doesn’t benefit from your corporate security stack, which means endpoints become more important than ever.
Key Differences That Matter in Practice
Security Posture
Forced tunneling is like having all your employees enter the building through a single, heavily monitored entrance. You know exactly who’s coming and going, and you can apply consistent security checks to everyone.
Split tunneling is more like having a main entrance for employees but allowing delivery trucks to use a side entrance. It’s more efficient, but you need different security measures for each entry point.
Performance Impact
Here’s where real-world experience matters. I’ve measured the difference, and forced tunneling can add 50-200ms of latency to internet requests, depending on where your users are relative to your VPN gateways. For checking email, that’s barely noticeable. For video conferencing with clients, it can be the difference between a professional call and an awkward, laggy conversation.
Split tunneling eliminates this performance penalty for general internet use while maintaining security for corporate resources. But it requires more sophisticated routing rules and endpoint management.
Bandwidth Considerations
Forced tunneling means your corporate internet connection handles not just business traffic, but also every employee’s personal browsing, streaming, and downloading. One organization I worked with discovered they were paying for massive bandwidth increases just to handle employees’ Spotify streaming and software updates.
Split tunneling keeps that personal traffic off your corporate pipes, but it also means you can’t control or monitor it through traditional network security tools.
When to Choose Forced Tunneling
Forced tunneling makes sense when security trumps everything else. I typically recommend it for:
Highly regulated industries where compliance requires complete traffic visibility. Healthcare organizations dealing with HIPAA, financial firms under SOX requirements, or government contractors often have no choice.
Organizations with sensitive intellectual property where data loss prevention is critical. If your company’s competitive advantage depends on keeping certain information locked down, the performance trade-off might be worth it.
Environments with limited IT resources where simplicity matters more than optimization. It’s easier to secure one tunnel than to manage complex routing rules and endpoint protection across diverse devices.
Short-term remote work scenarios where you need quick deployment without extensive planning. During emergency situations (like we saw in early 2020), forced tunneling can be deployed rapidly while you figure out longer-term strategies.
When Split Tunneling Makes More Sense
Split tunneling shines when you need to balance security with user experience and performance:
Organizations with significant cloud service usage where employees regularly access SaaS applications that don’t need corporate network protection. Why route Salesforce traffic through your data center when it’s already secure?
Companies with bandwidth-sensitive operations where network performance directly impacts productivity. Creative agencies working with large media files, software companies with distributed teams, or any organization where lag hurts the bottom line.
Environments with sophisticated endpoint protection where you can secure devices independently of network controls. If you’ve invested in advanced endpoint detection and response tools, you might not need network-level protection for all traffic.
Geographically distributed teams where forced tunneling would create significant latency issues. A team member in Singapore shouldn’t have to route through New York just to check documentation on a public website.
Implementation Best Practices I’ve Learned
After helping dozens of organizations implement these solutions, here are the practices that actually work:
Start with Assessment, Not Technology
Before choosing your approach, map out your actual traffic patterns. I use network monitoring tools to understand what employees are accessing and when. You might discover that 80% of your bandwidth goes to legitimate business applications that benefit from split tunneling.
Define Clear Policies Early
Write down exactly which traffic goes where before you configure anything. I’ve seen too many implementations fail because the rules weren’t clear from the start. Create a simple decision tree: “If accessing X, use VPN. If accessing Y, use direct connection.”
Layer Your Security
Whether you choose forced or split tunneling, don’t put all your security eggs in one basket. Implement strong endpoint protection, use multi-factor authentication, and monitor for anomalies. I typically recommend starting with more restrictive policies and gradually relaxing them as you build confidence in your security posture.
Plan for Performance Monitoring
Set up monitoring before you deploy, not after problems arise. Track latency, bandwidth utilization, and user complaints. I use both technical metrics and user feedback surveys to understand the real impact of tunneling decisions.
Prepare for Hybrid Approaches
Many successful implementations combine both methods. You might use forced tunneling for highly sensitive roles while allowing split tunneling for general users. Or implement forced tunneling during business hours with more flexible policies after hours.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
The “Set It and Forget It” Trap: Network requirements change as your business evolves. Review your tunneling policies quarterly, especially as you adopt new cloud services or change business processes.
Ignoring the Mobile Reality: Your tunneling strategy needs to work for smartphones and tablets, not just laptops. Mobile devices have different performance characteristics and usage patterns.
Underestimating Change Management: The best technical solution in the world fails if users don’t understand or accept it. Invest time in training and communication.
Focusing Only on Security: Yes, security is important, but if your solution makes employees less productive, they’ll find workarounds that might be even less secure.
Making the Right Choice for Your Organization
There’s no universal right answer here. The best choice depends on your specific combination of security requirements, performance needs, user expectations, and technical capabilities.
Start by asking these questions:
- What’s the real cost of a security incident versus the cost of reduced productivity?
- How sophisticated is your endpoint protection?
- What compliance requirements do you actually face?
- How distributed is your workforce?
- What’s your tolerance for complexity in implementation and management?
The most successful organizations I work with treat this as an ongoing optimization challenge rather than a one-time decision. They start with clear requirements, implement thoughtfully, monitor carefully, and adjust based on real-world experience.
Your network security strategy should enable your business, not constrain it. Whether that means accepting some performance trade-offs for maximum security or carefully managing the risks of split tunneling for better user experience, the key is making an informed choice that aligns with your actual needs and capabilities.
Remember, the best security solution is the one that people actually use correctly, consistently, and without complaint. Sometimes that means forced tunneling. Sometimes it means split tunneling. Often, it means a thoughtful combination of both.