Gmail users in the US can now run scans to find out whether their Gmail ID appears on the dark web, Google announced today at Google I/O, its annual developer conference.
The feature was initially announced in March, when the internet giant released it for Google One users only.
It allows users to run scans and receive a report informing them whether their information, including name, address, email address, phone number, and Social Security number, appears on dark web portals.
Such information typically ends up on the dark web following a data breach (cybercriminals are known to share or trade stolen personally identifiable information on underground forums), but could also be harvested from publicly available databases.
With the dark web report enabled, users are automatically notified when matching information is found. Google will also provide guidance on how to protect the exposed information.
“For example, if your Social Security number was found on the dark web, we might suggest you report it as stolen to the government or take steps to protect your credit,” Google noted in a March blog post.
Today, Google announced that “anyone with a Gmail account in the US will be able to run scans to see if [their] Gmail address appears on the dark web and receive guidance on what actions to take to protect [themselves].”
The internet giant says it plans to make the dark web report available to international markets soon.
Today, Google also announced a new ‘About this Image’ tool to provide users with context on the visual content they find online, along with expanded spam protections in Drive to help users stay safe from potentially unwanted or abusive content, and a new option to delete recent searches in Maps.
To help platforms and organizations keep kids safer online, the internet giant is expanding its Content Safety API, which has been publicly available since 2018, to include potential CSAM (child sexual abuse material) in video content.
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