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Google One brings VPN feature to more plans, adds dark web monitoring for personal info
Google on Wednesday announced updates to its Google One plans and associated features. More specifically, Google is expanding its VPN by Google One feature to more plans, and the search giant is rolling out a new dark web monitoring feature to all Google One users.
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Prior to today's announcement, Google's VPN feature was only included with Premium 2TB plans, which started at $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year. Going forward, the VPN tool will be available starting with the $1.99 per month/100GB Basic plan and up. You can use VPN by Google One on Android, iOS, Windows and Mac -- and you can even share VPN access with up to five people who are also part of your Google One plan.
In addition to bringing Google VPN to more subscribers, Google is also launching a new dark web monitoring service. The new service will scan the dark web -- which requires specialized tools to access, but is where personal information is often sold and traded -- for your personal information, including your name, address, email, phone number and social security number. If your information is found, Google One will notify you, and then provide information on what steps you can take.
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For example, Google states if your social security number is found on the dark web, you can alert the government that it's been stolen and lock your credit.
The dark web monitoring feature will start rolling out to One subscribers over the coming weeks.