Gmail to Start Testing Brand Logo Validation System for Emails

Google this week announced several new security features for its G Suite services, and the most notable for Gmail users is a pilot of an email specification that allows brand logos to display within authenticated emails.

gmail logo display
Brand Indications for Message Identification (BIMI) is developed by the AuthIndicators Working Group, and requires emails to pass Google's anti-abuse validation, after which it brands the incoming message with a logo of the company that sent it.

Our 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 these authenticated emails pass all of our other anti-abuse checks, Gmail will start displaying the logo in existing avatar slots in the Gmail UI.

By authenticating messages using the existing DMARC system and requiring strong authentication, the spec aims to give users and email security systems increased confidence in the source of emails while creating a trusted brand presence.

Google says it will be starting the BIMI pilot in the coming weeks with a limited number of senders. To learn more about BIMI, you can visit the working group's website.

Tag: Gmail

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Production Will Reportedly Begin Ramping Up in October

Tuesday July 23, 2024 2:00 pm PDT by
Following nearly two years of rumors about a fourth-generation iPhone SE, The Information today reported that Apple suppliers are finally planning to begin ramping up mass production of the device in October of this year. If accurate, that timeframe would mean that the next iPhone SE would not be announced alongside the iPhone 16 series in September, as expected. Instead, the report...
iPhone 17 Plus Feature

iPhone 17 Lineup Specs Detail Display Upgrade and New High-End Model

Monday July 22, 2024 4:33 am PDT by
Key details about the overall specifications of the iPhone 17 lineup have been shared by the leaker known as "Ice Universe," clarifying several important aspects of next year's devices. Reports in recent months have converged in agreement that Apple will discontinue the "Plus" iPhone model in 2025 while introducing an all-new iPhone 17 "Slim" model as an even more high-end option sitting...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

Kuo: Ultra-Thin iPhone 17 to Feature A19 Chip, Single Rear Camera, Semi-Titanium Frame, and More

Wednesday July 24, 2024 9:06 am PDT by
Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today shared alleged specifications for a new ultra-thin iPhone 17 model rumored to launch next year. Kuo expects the device to be equipped with a 6.6-inch display with a current-size Dynamic Island, a standard A19 chip rather than an A19 Pro chip, a single rear camera, and an Apple-designed 5G chip. He also expects the device to have a...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Less Than Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Thursday July 25, 2024 5:43 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
icloud private relay outage

iCloud Private Relay Experiencing Outage

Thursday July 25, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
Apple’s iCloud Private Relay service is down for some users, according to Apple’s System Status page. Apple says that the iCloud Private Relay service may be slow or unavailable. The outage started at 2:34 p.m. Eastern Time, but it does not appear to be affecting all iCloud users. Some impacted users are unable to browse the web without turning iCloud Private Relay off, while others are...
iPhone 17 Plus Feature Purple

iPhone 17 Rumored to Feature Mechanical Aperture

Tuesday July 23, 2024 9:32 am PDT by
Apple is planning to release at least one iPhone 17 model next year with mechanical aperture, according to a report published today by The Information. The mechanical system would allow users to adjust the size of the iPhone 17's aperture, which refers to the opening of the camera lens through which light enters. All existing iPhone camera lenses have fixed apertures, but some Android...

Top Rated Comments

Unggoy Murderer Avatar
52 months ago
Maybe Google should have a chat with Twitter about how well these "verification" systems work.

Also, I'm sure there's some subtle irony in using CNN in their graphic...
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
B4U Avatar
52 months ago
Hey, Google. No need to remind everyone that you peek at the emails. ?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
3329783 Avatar
52 months ago
authentic fake news.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
4487549 Avatar
52 months ago
Glad to see Google authenticating their customers
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dezryth Avatar
52 months ago
Certified verified fake news straight to my Inbox?? Thanks Google! :P
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
[AUT] Thomas Avatar
52 months ago
Oh, yes... BIMI. It's useless without VMC (Verified Mark Certificates), possibly even creates false security...
Why? It doesn't protect from lookalike domains. Everyone can setup a lookalike domain like "macrumrs.com" and setup BIMI on that, put the MR logo. SPF, DKIM, DMARC... all of that will pass with flying colors. S/MIME signing has the same issue.

As for BIMI: We don't need any further protection from fake "FROM:" emails. Spoofed emails end up in the junk anyway thanks to SPF and possibly DKIM.

All of this nonsense could be eliminated when the sending server simply signs the emails using a (manually) validated cert for the sending domain.

However, there are to many backward people that think that, before touching the core of the mail-server they rather build another system around it. For example, Microsoft doesn't even support DKIM on Microsoft Exchange Server.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)