The world is a dangerous place, and your personal information is constantly being targeted by criminals. While you have no control over large corporations' security practices, you can take steps to protect your own data online. To that end, Google has introduced a number of measures to make you feel safer while browsing the web, including expanded data controls, dark web scan for Gmail, new ways to better identify scam websites, and more.

One of the more interesting features that Google announced is the ability to check if your Gmail ID is on the dark web by running a one-off scan. This feature was previously limited to Google One subscribers. Google will begin rolling it out to all Gmail users in the US in the coming weeks. After running a scan, Gmail will recommend appropriate actions that you need to take to protect yourself, assuming your Gmail address surfaced in the shady corners of the internet.

The search giant will also give you access to new privacy controls as part of Android 14, allowing you to do things like approve or decline app requests to track your location and easily clear your recent searches in Google Maps.

It's no secret that many apps request excessive amounts of information, including location data, which they frequently share with third parties. In Android 14, you'll be alerted when an app requests permission to share your location data with a third party, a feature that you can see for yourself in Android 14 Beta 2. Furthermore, a "Data deletion" section is being added to the Google Play Data safety section of apps, allowing you to easily request that your data or account be deleted.

To provide more context about an image you find online, Google is rolling out a new feature called "About This Image," which will look into where images have been first spotted on the web and whether they're authentic or manipulated.

Google also says it has refreshed its Safe Browsing API to detect malicious sites and warn you if you're about to visit one. The new security check relies on artificial intelligence, and Google notes that it speeds up its ability to check and identify compromised sites, with an additional 25% of phishing attempts being blocked in Chrome and Android every month.

The latest security measures were pushed through during the I/O 2023 conference, possibly to quell concerns about Google's platform's security protocols, some of which can be valid at times.