Many of us will have seen news of millions of account details for one service or another being leaked on the dark web. The chances are, at least one account you've ever used is included in this. This guide explains how to monitor these lists for your details using Google's free tool for doing this.
Important note: This guide assumes you have a Google account. This is required to complete the set up. However, once you have this, you can extend the monitoring for up to another 9 non Google email addresses and 3 phone numbers. Verification will be sent to these to ensure they;re yours to monitor.
Step 1: If you're on a desktop, you can go straight to the setup here: https://myactivity.google.com/dark-web-report. If you're on a mobile, open the Google app. At the top right, tap your profile picture or initial and then Manage your Google Account and then Security tab, then scroll down and tap Dark web report.
Step 2: Under Dark web report, click Start monitoring.
Step 3: By default, it will include your Google email address and associated phone number in the things to monitor. You can add additional numbers, emails and a home address to monitor if you want to. Click "Done" when you've finished adding.
Step 4: You can then view the results. These can be viewed per type of compromised data (Email / Phone / Password), or there's a big "View All Results" option. If you click into one of these, it will list all that apply. Click on each result and you'll get more details. The most important are likely to be any that an email and password are included. This does include a partly obscured password for each of these. Obviously, if you recognise that password and still use it anywhere, change it immediately! Google will also suggest next steps under the details.