The Role of BIMI in the Fight against Email Fraud and Scams

Today, businesses and individuals face a rising number of email frauds and scams, prompting them to focus on email protection. This article discusses how BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) helps prevent email fraud. We also discuss how businesses can leverage BIMI and the steps to set it up correctly.

Cybercriminals are using advanced phishing techniques today that cause millions of dollars in losses, damage to reputation, and personal harm to unsuspecting victims. While traditional solutions act as a necessary safeguard to detect threats, BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) has emerged as a promising solution for the fight against email fraud and scams. Let us see how BIMI plays an essential role in the battle against email-based threats.

BIMI Explained: What is BIMI and How is BIMI related to Email Authentication

If your organization uses BIMI, it will automatically verify the authenticity of incoming messages through a third-party authenticator (for example, a DNS record). Your employees will receive a visual indicator in their inbox, like a logo or icon next to the sender’s name.

Due to its numerous benefits, BIMI is slowly becoming an industry standard. It leverages the DNS infrastructure and secure protocols, offering a reliable method for email receivers to identify trustworthy emails and protect themselves from phishing attacks and other malicious activities.

BIMI helps prevent email fraud by verifying the authenticity of the sender’s domain and displaying a brand logo within the email client. BIMI works by:

• Verifying the sender’s domain ownership through DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) records.
• Publishing a brand logo verified by the email client and displayed next to the sender’s name in the email.
• Protecting against phishing and spoofing attempts by verifying that the sender is authorized to use the brand’s logo and domain.
• By providing a visual representation of a trusted sender and a layer of authentication, BIMI helps email recipients quickly identify and trust legitimate emails, reducing the likelihood of falling victim to email fraud.

Why Do Businesses Need to Leverage BIMI?

BIMI represents a significant advancement for businesses and organizations in their fight against email fraud. Brands need to recognize the power of BIMI in email security as it provides many advantages, some of which are:

1. Decentralized Infrastructure: Cybercriminals cannot tamper with BIMI because it operates on a decentralized infrastructure. It is one of the critical benefits of BIMI because it allows organizations to take ownership of their brand identity and control the information that email recipients can see. Hence, unlike other solutions that rely on centralized authentication authorities, BIMI creates a transparent and secure user environment. They can trust that the information they receive is authentic and accurate.

Image sourced from emailonacid.com

2. Brand Recognition: Another advantage of BIMI is that it provides a consistent and standardized way for organizations to identify their brand in emails. By using a verified logo or icon, BIMI enhances the visual impact of emails and makes it easier for recipients to recognize and trust messages from known and trusted organizations.

Enhancing your emails with your brand logo amplifies the emotions that your subscribers associate with your messages. Ideally, this emotional response should be positive so that the sight of your logo in their inbox stirs excitement and prompts immediate email opening.

3. Direct Communication: Organizations that use BIMI can communicate crucial information, like policy updates or security warnings, to their email recipients. They can include relevant details in the BIMI record, ensuring the right people see and respond to the messages. For example, an organization uses BIMI to communicate a security warning to its employees. The visual indicator in their inbox will ensure that the employees notice and act upon it timely.

4. Email Fraud Protection: Integrating with DMARC, BIMI significantly decreases the risk of fraudulent emails reaching the inbox. Gmail adopted BIMI in 2020, demonstrating the importance of email authentication and its positive impact on recipient trust. BIMI provides a visual assurance that the sender is legitimate, effectively thwarting scammers who seek to hide the source of an email and lure people into clicking on harmful links or giving away their personal information through phishing attacks.

How to Set Up BIMI for your Business to Protect Against Email Fraud and Scams?

To set up a the BIMI standard for your business, you must follow these steps:

1. Publishing a DMARC policy: First, define a DMARC policy that will define the authenticity of your domain. Furthermore, it will ensure that your emails are safe from spoofing and phishing.

2. Creating a BIMI record: Next, you must create a BIMI record for your domain. It will include a reference to a publicly accessible SVG (your brand logo). You must host the logo file on a secure server and publish the BIMI record in your domain’s DNS records.

3. Verifying your Domain and Logo: After publishing the DMARC policy and BIMI record, the next step is verifying the domain and logo to ensure they meet BIMI standards.

4. Testing your BIMI Implementation: Next, you must test your BIMI implementation to ensure everything works how you want. You can send test emails to different clients and check if they display your logo correctly.

5. Monitoring your DMARC and BIMI Records: Finally, regularly monitoring the DMARC and BIMI records is essential to ensure they remain accurate and up-to-date and deliver robust email protection. Additionally, your security teams must monitor the email traffic to detect potential phishing or spoofing attempts and take appropriate action.

Final Words

Implementing BIMI is a crucial step in the battle against email fraud and scams. BIMI offers a secure and standardized approach to authenticate emails, giving organizations and individuals an effective tool to safeguard against malicious attacks and maintain the trust and security of their communications.

BIMI enhances both email security and marketing efforts, and when combined with DMARC, SPF, and DKIM, the implementation of BIMI provides maximum protection and upholds brand reputation. As email continues to be a significant aspect of our digital lives, the adoption of BIMI ensures its future as a safe and dependable mode of communication.