Staying safe online is super important, and lots of people use ExpressVPN to help keep their internet browsing private. But recently, the ExpressVPN leak shocked users. A mistake in its software accidentally let some of your internet information slip out.
Normally, when you use a VPN service, it’s like wearing an invisible cloak online. All your internet requests go through secret servers, keeping your browsing habits hidden from prying eyes. But, oops! A tiny glitch in the system caused some of those requests to sneak past ExpressVPN and go straight to your internet provider instead. So, even though ExpressVPN was still hiding what you were doing on websites, your internet provider could see which sites you were visiting.
What do you need to know about the ExpressVPN leak?
ExpressVPN recently faced a problem where a bug in its software caused some users’ internet browsing details to be exposed. Here’s what happened:
ExpressVPN usually keeps your online activity private by sending all your internet requests through its own secure servers. However, because of a mistake in their software, some DNS requests were sent directly to your internet provider instead. This means that, in some cases, your internet provider could see which websites you were visiting, even though the actual content of those websites remained private because of the ExpressVPN leak.
The company found out about this issue and has since fixed it in their latest software update, version 12.73.0. To be safe, they temporarily removed a feature called split tunneling, which caused the problem. They promise to bring back this feature once they’re sure everything is working properly.
If you’re using ExpressVPN on Windows and have versions 12.23.1 through 12.72.0, updating to the latest version is important to avoid this problem. If you can’t update immediately, you can turn off split tunneling to stay protected until you can update. If you still need to use split tunneling, you need to downgrade it to version 10.
The ExpressVPN leak shows how important it is for companies like ExpressVPN to keep their software up-to-date and to fix any problems quickly to protect their users’ privacy.
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What is split tunneling?
Split tunneling is a feature offered by VPN (Virtual Private Network) services that allow users to selectively route internet traffic through either the VPN connection or their regular internet connection.
With split tunneling enabled, users can choose which applications or websites utilize the encrypted VPN tunnel and which ones access the internet directly. This flexibility is particularly useful for users who need to access both local network resources and remote services simultaneously while maintaining the security and privacy benefits of a VPN.
For example, a user might want to access their company’s internal network through the VPN while still accessing public websites or streaming services through their regular internet connection. By specifying which traffic goes through the VPN and which traffic doesn’t, split tunneling provides greater control over internet access and can improve overall network performance.
However, as seen in the case of ExpressVPN’s recent bug, improper implementation or vulnerabilities in split tunneling features can lead to privacy and security issues, highlighting the importance of thorough testing and regular software updates in VPN services.
