Google is offering customers the chance to show their corporate logo in Gmail if they adopt DMARC email authentication, plus other security updates.
Google has announced the pilot for corporate avatars in Gmail that’s tied to DMARC adoption, a raft of new G Suite security features to protect Gmail, Meet and Chat, and new tools for admins to manage mobile devices and data leakage from Google Drive.
Google has announced the pilot of a standard it’s backing called Brand Indicators for Message Identification or BIMI for organizations that want their email to display a corporate logo in Gmail’s avatar slot.
The BIMI pilot isn’t just for marketing though as it will require participating organizations to authenticate their emails using Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance or DMARC.
SEE: Information security policy (TechRepublic Premium)
The DMARC protocol can help stamp out email spoofing, a key ingredient in phishing attacks and business email compromise (BEC) scams.
But, in part because implementing DMARC isn’t easy, adoption of the email authentication protocol has remained extremely low in the private and public sectors, with the exception of US federal agencies that are subject to a 2017 DHS order mandating DMARC adoption.
Google’s brand initiative could be a carrot for DMARC adoption while helping keep email marketing relevant and protecting the medium from an erosion of trust. In China, DMARC adoption is strikingly low, likely because consumers prefer corporate communications via WeChat and SMS rather than email.
