Google is shutting down a function that many individuals used to examine whether or not their private info had ended up in knowledge breaches. The corporate has confirmed that its darkish internet report software will cease scanning for brand spanking new leaks in mid-January and can be totally discontinued on February 16, 2026. The function was designed to alert customers if particulars like their e mail deal with, telephone quantity, identify, or different private knowledge appeared in identified darkish internet breach dumps, however Google now says it didn’t go far sufficient in serving to folks act on these alerts.

The dark web report launched about a year and a half ago and rapidly gained consideration as a result of it promised visibility into part of the web most individuals can’t entry themselves. Customers may arrange a monitoring profile and obtain notifications if their info confirmed up in compromised databases.

Why Google is pulling the plug on darkish internet report

Google says the choice comes all the way down to usefulness. Suggestions confirmed that whereas the software may flag potential knowledge publicity, it hardly ever defined which particular providers had been affected or what significant steps customers may take past merely altering passwords. Now, Google needs to concentrate on safety instruments that provide clearer and extra actionable steering. These embody Safety Checkup, Password Supervisor, Password Checkup, passkeys for account sign-ins, and different protections discovered within the Google Security Heart. The corporate can be encouraging customers to depend on Results about you, which helps folks discover and request the elimination of non-public info like telephone numbers and residential addresses from Google Search outcomes.

Customers can delete their darkish internet monitoring profile at any time earlier than the shutdown. To do that, go to the Darkish internet report whereas signed into your Google account, open ‘Outcomes along with your data’, choose ‘Edit monitoring profile’, and select Delete monitoring profile. As analysis continues to focus on what number of people still rely on easy-to-guess passwords, Google has been rolling out changes that make account recovery less stressful and including live threat detection features on Android to floor safety dangers in actual time.