What is BIMI and how BIMI for apple works
Phishing is a form of online fraud that is very common among email users in the modern world. There are some things we can do to protect the data that is stolen in such an attack. In addition to using security software and being careful when opening links that look suspect, Apple announced this fall the launch of BIMI support. What is BIMI?
What are Brand Indicators for Message Identification?
The BIMI acronym stands for Brand Indicators for Message Identification, which means the operating system uses a brand-controlled logo mode to determine if the logo of a sender in an email is authentic.
BIMI apple support was announced for fall, and finally the iOS 16, iPadOS16, and macOS Ventura will have additional phishing protection. If a company wants to be BIMI logo certified, it must use DMARC, which is a security solution that helps administrators prevent hackers and attackers from plagiarizing their domains and organization details.
BIMI standard – how does it work?
When a company receives an email, it can be identified thanks to the BIMI standard. The senders with BIMI logo verification, show the logo in a relevant position thanks to a text file, kept on the sender’s server. ISPs can check the BIMI file for authenticity on the sender’s server, which is owned by the ISP that is handling the end-user traffic.
Due to the coordination of Brand Indicators for Message Identification, DMARC, and the email, spammers’ job gets really challenging, as they don’t really know the position of the spoof logo in the email. Such emails are recognizable as harmful messages and can be ignored by recipients, avoiding the risk of running malicious code.
How can BIMI help companies?
The importance of BIMI for Apple and other email providers is significant. The companies, whose clients use iPhones or MacBooks, may observe an increase in the number of people opening their emails, which, according to the research by Red Sift, will lead to higher conversions.
All company owners should be aware how important brand recognition is – it’s much more likely a customer will open an email from the company they already know and trust. In other cases, the mail will surely land in trash or spam.
Downsides of BIMI
Despite the undoubtful importance and advantages of BIMI, the system has its downsides too.
It’s quite possible that smaller companies won’t go for the BIMI logo certification, which may result in the attack attempts. BIMI for Apple support for the feature will also have to wait until the next versions of Apple’s operating systems are released.
And last but not least, due to the use of the BIMI standard, the marketers will intensify their activity to open their emails with marketing campaigns from BIMI certified companies. People will be more willing to buy a product or service from a trusted brand, which may have an advantage over smaller, yet still trustworthy companies.
If you need support in implementation of BIMI standards, contact EmailLabs™, the only distributor of VMC certificates in Poland.