Google One’s security features are getting better. To begin, Google is providing all subscribers with free access to its virtual private network (VPN). In October 2020, Google One members were first offered a VPN, but only for plans with at least 2TB of storage. The 2TB plan costs $100 a year or $10 a month, but you won’t have to pay that much to use Google’s VPN right now.
Google will make the VPN available to all plans starting today and continuing for the next few weeks. That includes the Basic option, which costs $2 per month and provides 100GB of storage across your Google account. The VPN will be accessible on Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac devices in 22 nations. It can be shared with up to five other people who are on the same One plan as you.
Your online activities will be hidden from network administrators and hackers by the VPN. Google claims “never use the VPN connection to track, log, or sell your online activity,” the company claims.
Google is adding a new feature to One subscribers’ protection elsewhere. A dark web report, which the company will begin distributing to members in the United States in the coming weeks, can search the dark web for your personal information to determine whether it was compromised in a data breach.
On your monitoring profile, you can choose which information, such as your name, address, email address, phone number, and Social Security number, you want Google to keep an eye on. According to Google’s privacy policy, the company will handle this data. If you would rather, you can ask Google to stop searching the dark web for your information and remove the information from your profile at any time.
If Google discovers your tracked information on the dark web, it will notify you and provide you with protection recommendations. It says, for example, that if it finds your Social Security number, you should report it as stolen and protect your credit. Beyond the information you add to your monitoring profile, the report will also highlight information that may be related to you.
Beyond additional storage and security measures, Google has been enhancing One with additional features. In February, it was made public that Google Photos’ Magic Eraser feature was available to subscribers. The feature was previously only available on Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 devices.