BIMI Standard in Gmail to Enhance Security
It is one of the email specifications and safety features that enables the use of brand-controlled logos within supporting email clients. Using Brand Indicators for Message Identification BIMI will lead to a safer and more trusted email ecosystem for the end users.
Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) is an emerging email specification that enables the use of brand-controlled logos within supporting email clients. BIMI leverages the work which organizations have put into deploying DMARC protection for their domain, by bringing brand logos to the customer’s inbox. For the brand logo to be displayed, the email must pass DMARC authentication check, which tries to intercept scammers from forging the “from” address of an email to pretend it’s coming from a legitimate source, thereby ensuring that the organization’s domain has not been impersonated. It ensures brand recognition and removes the substantial burden of assigning, managing and maintaining a brand indicator and allows you to manage on your own.
Brand Indicators for Message Identification BIMI pilot will enable organizations, who authenticate their emails using DMARC to validate ownership of their corporate logos and securely transmit them to Google. Once authenticated emails pass all of the other anti-abuse checks, Gmail will start displaying the logo in existing avatar slots in the Gmail UI.
BIMI provides benefits to the whole email ecosystem by requiring strong authentication, users and email security systems can have increased confidence in the source of emails, and senders will be able to optimize brand trust and provide their customers with a more immersive experience. For the organizations that want to create a trusted brand presence over email, this is a great opportunity to implement strong authentication, which in turn will lead to a safer and more trusted email ecosystem.
Google will be starting the BIMI pilot program in the coming weeks with a limited number of senders with two Certification Authorities for validating the logo ownership Entrust Datacard and DigiCert. To prepare for the post-pilot launch of BIMI and to generally help secure the email ecosystem, we encourage our customers to start adopting DMARC. BIMI will be generally available in the coming months, at which point organizations can choose if they want to adopt this standard.
