Built-in Online Security & Protection - Google Safety Center (2024)

FAQs

Does Google have built-in security? ›

Your Google Account comes with built-in security designed to detect and block threats like spam, phishing and malware. Your activity is stored using strong industry standards and practices.

Google's Safety Center aims to help you, your family and your friends stay safe and secure on the Internet. This booklet is designed to give you useful hints and tips that are easy to remember and put into action.

Google Safety Center

Making products for everyone means protecting everyone who uses them. Visit safety.google to learn more about our built-in security, privacy controls, and tools to help set digital ground rules for your family online.

Google keeps a close eye on your online security and makes sure you are aware of any account changes and unusual activity. For example, if you sign in to your account from a new device, you will be asked to confirm that it's really you.

Google Chrome offers a built-in antivirus scanner that comes with the browser. You can the antivirus scanner to search your device for programs that might be harmful. Here's how to run Chrome's Antivirus Scanner: Open Chrome on your device.

Sign into your Google Account. At the top right, select your profile picture. Select Recommended actions. This takes you to Security Checkup, where you'll get personal recommendations to improve your account security.

On your Android phone or tablet, open your Settings. Personal info. Under "Choose what others see," tap Go to About me. Below a type of info, you can choose who currently sees this info.

We send you security alerts when we: Detect important actions in your account, like if someone signs in on a new device. Detect suspicious activity in your account, like if an unusual number of emails are sent. Block someone from taking an important action, like viewing stored passwords.

Security is part of our data centers' DNA. We custom-build servers exclusively for our data centers, never selling or distributing them externally. And our industry-leading security team works 24/7 around the globe making our facilities one of the safest places for your data to live.

Google purchased Mandiant in 2022 for $5.4 billion, which, at the time, was its second-biggest acquisition ever. Many questions remain about Mandiant's measures to secure its X account.

What does Google safety check do? ›

You can review your Chrome's privacy and security with Safety Check. On a computer, Safety Check searches for: Compromised, reused, or weak passwords: To ensure your online security, Safety Check can warn you if a username or password stored in the Google Password Manager was involved in a data breach.

Ads help fund our products

It's why we make so many of our products, like Search, Maps, and Gmail, accessible and free of charge to everyone. Advertising is what makes it possible to offer our products to everyone.

Google alert scams usually come from fake email addresses with random numbers or letters and misspellings. Real Google critical security alert emails we've seen were mostly sent from no-reply@accounts.google.com. If you received an email from a different address or a suspicious one, it's likely to be a scam.

Every day, Google Play Protect automatically scans all of the apps on Android phones and works to prevent the installation of harmful apps, making it the most widely deployed mobile threat protection service in the world.

Open your phone's Settings app. Tap Security. At the top, you'll see the security status of your device and Google Account. If there are important actions to take to secure your device or accounts, a warning message will appear.

When you send an email, share a video, visit a website, or store your photos, the data you create moves between your device, Google services, and our data centers. We protect this data with multiple layers of security, including leading encryption technology like HTTPS and Transport Layer Security.

Safe Browsing on Chrome protects 4 billion devices against risky sites, and Advanced Protection performs even more stringent checks before each download.

Look at sender's email address

Legitimate security alerts from Google typically come from the no-reply@accounts.google.com mailbox. Make sure to always check the sender's email address and never click any links or download attachments if the address differs from the one provided.

We do not sell your personal information to anyone. Advertising makes it possible for us to offer our products at no charge, and it helps the sites and apps that partner with us fund their content. Your personal information is not for sale. We keep your data private at every point in the process of showing you ads.