Google Shut Down Its Dark Web Monitoring Tool, so Here’s What to Use Instead

Another Google tool is biting the dust: The company’s dark web monitoring tool, launched in March 2023, will be shut down on Feb. 16. According to Google, feedback on the feature suggested it “didn’t provide helpful next steps”—so while it alerted users when their data was out in the wild, it wasn’t clear what to do about it. Now, Google is shifting its focus from the dark web monitoring tool to features like its online Security Check-Up and passkey protection. In other words, instead of flagging when your account credentials appear in a data breach, Google wants to make sure that your accounts stay safe even if a breach has occurred.

There are reasons why you should be keeping an eye on dark web chatter, however—and there are tools to take over the monitoring job now Google has backed out.

What is the dark web—and why do I need to monitor it?