If you haven’t heard the exciting news, as announced in late July, Google is joining the AuthIndicators Working Group, agreeing to pilot the Brand Indicators Message Identification (BIMI) standard. Google will beta the concept in Gmail soon, so now is the time to start getting prepared by adopting DMARC and soon BIMI.
What Does this mean to me?
Google’s decision to join the BIMI working group is a strong indicator that the BIMI standard will successfully make it out of draft stage and will likely be adopted as DMARC 2.0. For those new to BIMI, BIMI is a new authentication standard that will allow domain owners to display their company logos inside of email platforms like Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and potentially Outlook.com/Office 365 inboxes.
The intention of BIMI is to add an additional trust layer to the validity of email senders to help thwart email phishing attacks, as domains who are DMARC and BIMI authenticated will have their logos displayed front and center in those inboxes. Beyond the boost to the fight against email phishing, domain owners should be excited by BIMI, as this will allow them to get their logos directly in email inboxes; a long sought after real estate for marketers.
What Is BIMI?
BIMI is an industry-wide standards effort to use brand logos as indicators to help email recipients recognize and avoid fraudulent messages. Essentially, it allows email inboxes like Google’s Gmail to securely display approved logos beside DMARC authenticated messages, signaling to users that the received emails are legitimate and safe to open.
The BIMI standard also allows domain owners control over which logos email recipients see. For example, an insurance company could use BIMI to display its logo next to authenticated messages sent from its domain or an alternative logo at its choosing. This gives the insurance company complete control over which images are displayed, providing brand exposure, as well as protection against spoofing.
Using BIMI requires DMARC authentication is to be implemented on the respective domain. In fact, the BIMI standard is considered an extension of the DMARC protocol, i.e. DMARC 2.0 to some. At the current time, BIMI is still in draft stage and is being beta tested in Verizon Media (Yahoo! Mail, AOL, etc.) and will be in beta in Gmail in the near future. However, MxToolbox is here to help you get ahead with our own BIMI Lookup tool.
For further reading about BIMI please click here
What Is the BIMI Working Group?
The AuthIndicators Working Group is responsible for developing the BIMI standards. Currently, the Working Group’s public members include Agari, Comcast, LinkedIn, Return Path, Valimail, Verizon Media, and now Google. With a shared goal of reducing email fraud, the Working Group committee of companies is aiming to help create a safer inbox experience for all email users.
The Future of Email Delivery
With the DMARC protocol slowly becoming such a vital aspect of email delivery over the years, BIMI in combination with DMARC will only improve on the DMARC standard. Improving protection in the fight against email phishing and opening up a new and exciting avenue for brand advertising/awareness for domain owners, brands, and marketers may finally be boost needed to spark rapid DMARC adoption. With BIMI still in beta, this is a great opportunity to adopt DMARC if you haven’t yet or have been too afraid to.