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Google has announced a raft of new safety features at its annual Google I/O developer conference, aimed at protecting users from scams and phishing attempts, as well as making fact-checking easier.
One of the most intriguing new features — which for now is only being rolled out in the US — is the ability to monitor the dark web for your own email address. And if it is found — say, as part of a data breach that has been shared by hackers — Google can even give you advice about what you can do next.
This feature was previously only available to US Google One subscribers, and other “select international markets” will get the feature in the future as well.
Another update is a new tool to help verify images online. “About this image” lets users investigate the providence of images in news feeds or shared on social media.
“‘About this Image’ provides you with important context like when an image or similar images were first indexed by Google, where it may have first appeared, and where else it’s been seen online like a news, social or fact-checking site,” said Jen Fitzpatrick, Google Core services senior vice-president, in a blog post announcing the changes.
Google also announced that it is expanding its Content Safety API — used by many social media sites to monitor images that might contain child sexual abuse material (CSAM) — to also now monitor video content.
“This is an important step forward for the child safety ecosystem, as video files account for nearly 50 per cent of all files reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children,” Fitzpatrick said.
Meanwhile, a new Safe Browsing feature is an AI-powered API that allows for faster and more thorough checking for spam and phishing attempts. Google claims the API can now block 25 per cent more malicious content.
Google also added a new way to view files on Google Drive, sorting files from actual content into spam and reporting anything that might be “unwanted or abusive”.
The new PassKey feature is also part of the rollout, and Google also has a new feature that lets users delete search data from Google Maps and has added more transparency to its data collection practices in Android.
“Amidst rising cyber attacks,” Fitzpatrick said, “we’re leading the way toward a safer future through strengthening the industry’s workforce, applying advances in AI to keep organisations safe, and implementing new protections that safeguard your information across our products — wherever you go online.”
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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