As part of a Google roadshow to help over 10,000 people keep safe online, the search giant will be offering free training and guidance in five UK cities throughout August, September and October.

According to new insights released by Google, “change my password” searches have risen by 300 per cent over the last three years, alongside “Email been hacked,” which has risen by 5,000 per cent over the same period.

Not only that, but people in Leeds, Manchester and Boston have been searching “How do I change my password?” more than any other cities in the country. The data also shows that Manchester and London are more concerned about privacy, searching for “is my data private?” the most.

Laurian Clemence of Google UK, said

Our workshops will cover best practices directly from Google’s privacy and security experts on how they can safeguard their passwords, update their account settings, find a stolen device, and check where they are sharing their data in just two minutes, from one place. Anyone can sign up, starting today.

martin woods helping out at the Leeds google summer safety roadshow
Martin at the first Google Summer Safety Roadshow at the Google Garage Leeds.

The roadshow is set to start this Friday at the Digital Garage in Leeds, before moving onto Birmingham, Boston, London and Manchester. The search giant shall also be visiting primary schools throughout the country starting in September.

After signing up, people are able to enjoy one-to-one private consultations with Google Ambassadors, while also receiving advice from Google’s security experts, offering best practice tips and advice in regards to security and privacy.

After volunteering to help out at some of the events, Martin Woods said:

At SALT.agency we take online security and privacy very seriously. In fact we recently made a free tool to help people understand what personal information is currently indexed in Google.

This latest initiative will help raise awareness of the issue and provide practical help for people to reduce the risk of security issues. Like the Google Garage, if we can support these community initiatives in any way, we will seek to do so.

Martin and Reza shall be offering their expertise at the events in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and London over the coming months.