Gmail will start attaching brand logos on emails to deter hackers

With the new feature, an organisation’s logo will show up in the user’s inbox when they send an email. It uses a technology called Domain based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC), which helps reduce phishing emails.

“DMARC helps mail administrators prevent hackers and other attackers from spoofing their organization and domain. Spoofing is a type of attack in which the From address of an email message is forged. A spoofed message appears to be from the impersonated organization or domain,” Google says on its support page.

The tech giant had joined the working group for BIMI in 2019 and said logos will appear for companies that use the Sender Policy Framework (SMF) or Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) to authenticate their emails. SPF and DKIM are email authentication techniques which are used to keep spammers in check. Organisations using these technologies have to face repercussions if their emails are marked as spam by users.

“Once these authenticated emails pass all of our other anti-abuse checks, Gmail will start displaying the logo in existing avatar slots in the Gmail UIm,” the company said in a blog post. The logos will appear in the small circular avatar slot next to an email on Gmail, giving them a distinct identity in the receiver’s inbox. It will help brands authenticate their newsletters, offer emails and more, which are often spoofed by hackers in phishing attempts.