Google's dark web monitoring service—which can warn you about your email being circulated on hacking sites—is expanding to all Gmail users as a free perk.
The search giant already offers a dark web monitoring service for paid US customers via its Google One subscription service. But at Google I/O today, the company expanded the security monitoring to all Gmail users for free.
However, it looks like the feature will only warn you about your Gmail address being posted on the dark web—not other personal data, such as name, phone number, or physical address.
“We’re expanding access to our dark web report in the next few weeks, so anyone with a Gmail account in the US will be able to run scans to see if your Gmail address appears on the dark web and receive guidance on what actions to take to protect yourself," Google says.
For a more complete dark web monitoring, you’ll need to pay for a Google One subscription, which can also scan to see if your Social Security number is potentially in the hands of scammers. That said, the company already notifies users about their Google account passwords ending up in a data breach. The tech giant also offers a free “Password Checkup” feature that’ll examine credentials stored in Google Password Manager to warn you about those that “may have been exposed, are weak, or are used in multiple accounts.”
Another privacy change the company announced at I/O focuses on Google Maps. It can be a hassle to delete searches on the app, so Google plans on adding a convenient button that can wipe the recent search history in a click.
“Currently, you can delete Maps search history from Web & App Activity. To make this even easier, we’re rolling out the ability to delete recent searches right from Maps with just a tap. So if, for instance, you recently searched a store for a surprise gift, you can easily remove it from your history,” the company says.
The other notable announcement is that Google’s Android OS will be able to warn you when an app shares your location data to third-party services. Look for it in Android 14, which is slated to release later this year.
“You can use this information to decide if you want to approve or decline location sharing for each app so you're always in control,” the company says. “We’re also adding a new “Data deletion” area within an app’s Google Play Data safety section, making it easy to request your account or other data be deleted.”