Surfshark announced on May 14 that it’s making its Alert service available in 90+ countries, dramatically expanding the current number from just three — the United States, Lithuania, and Bulgaria.
“This means that more of our users can closely watch their IDs for any signs of unauthorized access or misuse,” Surfshark said in its blog post announcing the change.
Surfshark’s Alert service scans the dark web for email addresses, credit card information, and national ID numbers, such as social security numbers, that might belong to subscribers. If Alert finds any of this information, there’s a good chance at least one of the subscriber’s online accounts has been hacked, and it notifies the subscriber right away.
Once personal information like this makes it onto the dark web, other hackers will often buy the information and use it to make fraudulent purchases (in the case of credit card details), start phishing campaigns against the owners (with email addresses), or outright steal the owners’ identities (with national ID numbers).
Surfshark’s own data breach study found that more than 17 billion user accounts worldwide have been compromised since 2000, with the United States, Russia, China, France, and Germany having the most number of accounts appearing on the dark web.
The Surfshark Alert service is available only with the Surfshark One and Surfshark One+ plans.
In the last year, Surfshark has added new privacy and security features to its line-up of offerings. Alternative ID generates an alternate online identity that includes an online name, email address, birthdate, and home address for registrations on unreliable websites. Incogni removes users’ personal information from company databases and people search sites.
In addition to Alert, Alternative ID, and Incogni, Surfshark has long offered a reliable VPN (virtual private network) that encrypts online traffic so third parties can’t see it, and an antivirus that scans and removes viruses and malware from devices connected to the internet.