Google announced it will offer dark web monitoring for all Google users to “help you understand and protect your online presence.”
As the name suggests, the feature will notify you if your sensitive information appears on the Dark Web. More importantly, it will allow you to remove results that contain personal details.
READ: Your phone’s light sensor can spy on you
As a result, you can protect your data from potential misuse by shady individuals. It will become available in July 2024 in 46 countries, including the Philippines.
How will dark web monitoring work?
The Internet is like the ocean; despite its size, people only frequent 5% of its content. Tulane University calls this segment the Surface Web, which you can access via Google.
The 90% make up the Deep Web, which includes email inboxes and banking information. They have extensive cybersecurity preventing people from accessing them via Google.
The remaining 5% is the Dark Web, which enabled anonymous communication for the United States Department of Defense.
Nowadays, everyone can use it for legal and illegal purposes.
Tulane University says the latter may involve the sale of illegal drugs, weapons, passwords, and stolen identities.
Fortunately, Google will help you protect your data from Dark Web activity.
Once dark web monitoring is live, you may access it by opening myactivity.google.com. Then, head to the Results About You page.
If your data shows up on the Dark Web, you may request Google to remove it from search results. Consequently, you may prevent many from accessing your data.
However, Fast Company says you should start securing your accounts if your info appears on the Dark Web. You should change your passwords and freeze your credit to prevent identity theft.
At the time of writing, the Results About You page is inaccessible in the Philippines, so Filipinos just have to wait a bit to use dark web monitoring.