BIMI stands for Brand Indicators for Message Identification. It is an email specification that allows organizations to display their brand logos in the email clients of recipients who have enabled this feature. BIMI aims to improve email security and provide visual authentication of email messages.
The primary goal of BIMI is to combat email fraud, phishing, and spoofing by verifying the authenticity of emails sent on behalf of a specific brand. It allows organizations to establish their brand identity in the inbox by associating their logo with their email messages. When BIMI is implemented, email clients can display the brand’s logo alongside the email, providing a visual indicator of the email’s authenticity.
BIMI relies on several underlying technologies, including the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) protocol, which helps prevent email spoofing, and the Verified Mark Certificates (VMC) that validate the association between a brand’s logo and its domain.
To implement BIMI, organizations need to follow specific requirements, including implementing DMARC with a policy of “quarantine” or “reject,” having a valid VMC for their logo, and configuring their Domain Name System (DNS) records to include the necessary BIMI information.
While BIMI is gaining traction and support from major email providers, its adoption is still in progress, and email clients need to enable BIMI support for it to be effective.
