Thanks to a new update, Gmail is now able to access the dark web in order to check whether user emails have appeared on dangerous sites: it is not clear when the functionality test phase will end.
Among the many innovations unveiled by Google during the I/O 2023 event, one of the most interesting certainly concerns Gmail and it has nothing to do with using artificial intelligence. The US company has indeed announced a security feature that informs users if their email address has been published on the dark web and as a result could be the target of possible cyber attacks.
Il dark web it is a “hidden” portion of the Internet, not accessible by normal search engines and in which users can operate anonymously. Here i cybercriminali they are used to exchanging illegal information, personal and sensitive data.
Google will bring the new feature Dark Web Report, which precisely analyzes the content of the dark web in search of explicit references to Gmail accounts, first in the United States and then extended to other countries. But what exactly does it consist of?
Dark Web Report consists of one periodic scan to check if the users’ Gmail address is published somewhere on the “dark side” of the Internet: in this case they are recommended security measures add-ons to better protect Google Accounts.
It may happen that the violation of a service managed by third parties leads to the inclusion of an e-mail address within the databases accessible through the dark web. Often these are archives containing username e password stolen from multiple sources and made available for purchase by actual cybercriminals.
Once the information is bought, therefore, it could be used for identity theftbank fraud and phishing, or even to attempt to steal entire user accounts, together with the data stored in them, especially in cases where the passwords and the protection measures set are too weak.
It is said that the appearance in the “folds” of the dark web of an email address under one’s control is a tragedy: the publication of an e-mail address on the dark web it is equivalent to sharing on the public web. If you receive a report from Google, however, it is advisable to investigate carefully because – as previously mentioned – the appearance of your email address on the dark web may be associated with a working password and other personal data.
It will therefore be necessary to verify the type of information that has appeared on the dark web to ascertain, for example, whether the password associated with your email address has been stolen by cybercriminals following a attack made against a website or service operated by a third party to which you subscribed.
Hence the importance of never using the same passwords on multiple online services and always using at least two-factor authentication to protect information most important. Obviously changing the password is then the first operation to do in these cases, regardless of whether thetwo-factor authentication whether or not it is enabled.
Lo reporting tool of the Google dark web in question is not completely new, but was previously available exclusively to US consumers signed up for Google One. Over the next few months, Dark Web Report it will be available for “selected international markets”: it is not clear whether Europe is included among these.