Gmail is about to start testing verification-like logos for email
BIMI adds authenticated logos for emails from participating companies.
Google has announced a slew of security enhancements headed for G Suite services, including some we’ve heard about like admin changes for Google Meet, but one of the biggest announcements is all about Gmail. Last year Google announced it joined the Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) group (Verizon Media, the parent company of Engadget, is also a part of the group), which is pushing an email spec that adds brand logos to authenticated emails.
In practice it seems a lot like the verified stamps that have proliferated across social media, but when you see them it won’t be a blue check, it will be the logo of the company the sent the email, as shown above with CNN. Emails are authenticated using the existing DMARC system and then there’s certification that applies the associated logo, which hopefully gives people trust an email came from the company or person it’s claiming to represent.
Google said it will kick off a pilot of the technology within Gmail “in the coming weeks,” so don’t be surprised when you see those kinds of indicators popping up in the existing avatar box.
