If you’re not familiar with Google’s Dark Web Report, then you probably won’t feel as bummed as loyal users that Google will be shutting it down early next year. The Dark Web Report was a security feature that Google added to the Google account, and it would scan the dark web for your personal information. If any information was found, Google would send you the Dark Web Report to inform you. This proactive approach to helping people protect their information online wasn’t widely advertised, nor was it a frontline feature. However, it was a useful tool that didn’t cost anything extra. Making it a nice little freebie.
The Google Dark Web Report will be shutting down in February
If you count on information from this feature, you’ll want to make a note of the dates that Google plans to turn the lights off. The Dark Web Report will officially go dark forever on February 16, 2026. Furthermore, the dark web scans, a feature of the Dark Web Report, will stop on January 15, 2026. Which is exactly a month away from now at the time of writing.
It’s important to understand that no new scans will happen as of this date in January. However, as mentioned earlier, the dark web scans are still currently happening. The February 16 shutdown date is when the data collected from the scans will no longer be accessible to users, as Google will both shut down the feature for good and delete any associated data from its servers.
According to Google, the feature just wasn’t as helpful as it could be. The company states on the feature’s support page that “While the report offered general information, feedback showed that it didn’t provide helpful next steps. We’re making this change to instead focus on tools that give you more clear, actionable steps to protect your information online. We’ll continue to track and defend you from online threats, including the dark web, and build tools that help protect you and your personal information.”
While it’s a bummer for those who rely on this that it’s going away, there are other ways to protect your data online. Google has several tools that it recommends users engage with to ensure their data online is safe. For instance, setting up passkeys . Google also recommends using the Security Checkup feature, and we highly recommend a really good password manager . Something like Bitwarden with lots of extra features.
