Data breaches are increasingly becoming common these days across online services and products. To tackle the misuse of user information via such breaches, the search engine giant Google has taken an important step. The company will start offering the Google One “Dark web reports” to all Google Account users by the end of this month.
Google One “Dark web reports” are moving to the “Results about you” section
The “Dark web reports” will no longer be available within the Google One app “starting in late July”. Instead, Google users can access this feature from the “Results about you” section. It can be accessed by going to the “Manage your Google Account” tab under your account’s avatar.
Currently, these reports are only available to users with a Google One membership. However, by the end of July, anyone with a consumer Google Account will be able to access them. These reports help users to stay aware of any personal data breaches across the web. It appears to be a combined solution to help users protect their online presence. This change is coming after the company shut down the Google One VPN service last month.
The “Dark web reports” can inform you if your personal information is found in data breaches
As of now, “Results about you” allows users to find and request the removal of search results that contain their personal information. The Google One “Dark web reports”, on the other hand, monitor parts of the internet that are ordinarily not easy to access. It searches breaches for the leaks of your personal information, so you can easily safeguard your online presence. Together, these two tools will certainly be much more helpful for this purpose.
The “Dark web reports” can inform you if your personal information is found in any data breach. It checks for data associated with your name, email, address, user name, and password. The breaches may also contain information including your phone number and Social Security Number (SSN). With these results, users can make informed decisions about how they can protect their data on the web.
The “Dark web reports” are currently available in 46 countries across the globe including the US and the UK. Unfortunately, this feature is not available to users having a Google Workspace or a supervised account.