VPNs haven't been useful since 2002

[l0st]

Numbers stations are a good example of unbreakable codes.  Uniform blocks of numbers repeated over and over.  Random number changes at periodic intervals, then one number will change which equates to where to look up the location of the message in a subsequent string of blocks.  Then blocks of numbers, and more blocks of numbers.  There's no way to tell even how long a message is.  And by keeping message lengths uniform, no forensic pattern analysis can be performed (mathematical or otherwise).  It's just impossible to break.  A "1" in position #2 of a block of (5) might mean a <space>.  A "1" in the 2nd position of an identical (5) digit block might mean "G".  A "1" in the 2nd position of a 3rd block of (5) digits might be an instruction to look at the 2nd letter in on the cover of the Bible which is an "O".  And the next message is completely different with blocks of (5) random digits which are all meaningless and to be discarded.  There's just no way to crack something like that.  Plus, a digit could refer to a word

21379 21379 21379 21379 21300 21300 21300 21379 21379 21379 21379...on and on, 24 x 7 x 365 for decades on end.  Some have been on the air for 30+ years, just non-stop numbers.

It's really fascinating study when you look into it.  I spent a lot of time back in the 2000's listening to endless strings of numbers and studying the CONET project research publications.

Numbers stations are still out there too, which is a testament to their unbreakable security.

The type of encryption they use on numbers stations is called a "one time pad". It's impossible to break because the key is unique every time and only know by the two parties communicating and is never sent over the air, only the contents of the cipher. Even if it is broken, only that message is decryptable, although this is theoretically impossible because the key is always random and bears no statistical relationship to the message.

This VPN ordeal really isn't a bug or exploit, nor was DHCP intentionally designed to be vulnerable per se. VPNs were originally designed to connect two private networks. Pushing internet access to users came later, ergo split tunneling. The DHCP protocol has always been plaintext and was simply extended add this route functionality. It was designed in an era when networks were considered secure and bad actors were not commonplace.

Split tunneling can be exploited by a nefarious provider. It ultimately comes down to the fact that if you're not running your own network you must trust the entity hosting your services.