Google is retiring its dark web monitoring service

From February 16, 2026, Google’s dark web report will no longer be available. 

First launched in 2023, the service worked by scanning the dark web for a user’s personal information, such as name, address, or social security number, informing them and advising them of next steps. The ultimate aim was to combat online identity fraud from stolen data that became available on the dark web. While it was only available to Google One users when first launched, Google expanded it to include all account holders in July 2024.

Why Google is discontinuing the service

While it may seem like an odd service to discontinue at a time when security breaches are ever-increasing, the tech giant believes that the feature ultimately didn’t provide enough help to users. In a Help Center post, it says feedback showed that the next steps it provided users were not helpful. By shutting down dark web monitoring, it aims to focus on developing tools that give users clearer and more actionable steps to protect their data online. 

In an email sent to dark web monitor users, it gave the assurance:

“We will continue to track and defend you from online threats, including the dark web, and build tools that help protect you and your personal information.”

In the meantime, Google encourages users to utilize other tools to strengthen their online security and privacy, such as its Security and Privacy Checkups, Passkey, 2-Step Verification, Google Password Manager, and Password Checkup. If users want to delete their dark web monitor profile ahead of the February 16 deletion date, they can do the following: 

• Head to your dark web report profile
• Navigate to “Results with your info,” and select “Edit monitoring profile”
• Hit “Delete monitoring profile” at the bottom of the page, then “Delete” 

Protecting yourself from dark web data breaches

The best protection against having your personal information show up on the dark web is preventing leaks in the first place. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot you can do after the fact. So prevention is paramount. Best evergreen best practices include:

• Use strong, unique passwords for every account 
• Keep track with a password manager 
• Turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) wherever possible
• Watch out for phishing scams

Also consider signing up for Have I Been Pwned to be alerted if your email ever shows up in a data breach, so you can act quickly by updating your online credentials.