Google expands VPN access to all Google One members, rolls out new ‘dark web report’ feature

Google is expanding VPN access to all Google One members on all plans and rolling out a new dark web report feature for all subscribers. VPN by Google One was previously only available to members on the Premium 2TB plan, but will now be available to all Google One members, including those on the Basic plan that starts at $1.99 per month.

The tech giant notes that VPN by Google One adds more protection to your internet activity no matter what apps or browsers you use, shielding it from hackers or network operators by masking your IP address.

The VPN is available in Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States across Android, iOS, Windows and Mac devices. You can also share the VPN with up to five others if they’re on your Google One plan.

Google is also introducing a new feature called “dark web report” for Google One members on all plans in the United States to help users monitor their personal information on the dark web. Dark web report will start rolling out over the next few weeks to members across all Google One plans in the United States.

“Google One’s dark web report helps you scan the dark web for your personal info — like your name, address, email, phone number and Social Security Number — and will notify you if it’s found,” the company said in a blog post. “When you enable dark web report, you provide and select the information you’d like to keep an eye on within your monitoring profile. And if any matching info is found on the dark web, we’ll notify you and provide guidance on how you might protect that information.”

The feature will also show you other related info that may be found in those data breaches. Google notes that the info in your monitoring profile is handled according to Google’s privacy policy and you can delete any info from your profile or stop monitoring at any time.

The Google One subscription originally began as a way to pay for additional cloud storage for things like Photos, Docs and Gmail. Over the years, it’s expanded to become a broader suite of features, which now includes members-only perks, like the ability to host longer group video calls on Google Meet, 10% cashback on Google Store purchases and extended trials.

Google expands VPN access to all Google One members, rolls out new ‘dark web report’ feature by Aisha Malik originally published on TechCrunch