Gmail’s solution to avoid email fraud: display the company logo

Google is about to introduce a small change in Gmail with which it intends to protect its users from so usual “phishing”, email fraud that makes spoofing its Trojan horse: to improve the detection of authentic emails, Gmail will include the logo of the companies in these emails. The deployment is underway.

Chopping on a “phishing” email may seem absurd for someone used to dealing with technology issues, but the truth is that it is getting easier and easier: in addition to increasing volume of this fraud, scammers have almost perfectly imitated the companies they impersonate. That is why you have to be very careful, pay attention to the slightest sign that a sender is false. And the Gmail move will yield a lot of clues.

To know if an email is authentic, check if its logo appears

Mail clients like Gmail assign an avatar icon to each mail sender. If the person who sends it is on the platform, and has an image assigned to their account, the most common is that their email is recognized instantly since your face will appear on the tray. And something similar is what the BIMI association, a group made up of Google, MailChimp, and other email-related companies.

The aforementioned BIMI aspires to create a standard for correct and secure identification of emails that are sent across networks. Aware that sender spoofing is increasingly common and dangerous, from BIMI they offer a identification by logo that only authentic companies will be able to acquire.

Google joined the BIMI group in july of last year, but it was not until 2021 when it has finally introduced the visual recognition system on the platform. Thanks to this system, companies will be able to request BIMI to integrate it into mail clients that introduce this standard, as is the case with Gmail. Once authorized, the official company logo will be attached to all your emails; which will prove the communications at a glance.

Gmail has begun to expand support for BIMI and will be reaching all accounts during the next few dates. Although yes, that the logo appears in the emails will depend on the companies uploading them to BIMI; a process that will not be immediate and that, at least in theory, will add greater security to banks, operators or streaming platforms, three business groups highly affected by phishing.

More information | Google

Via | Android Police

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Gmail’s solution to avoid email fraud: display the company logo

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Engadget Android

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Ivan Linares

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