CNN has been issued a new digital certificate that uses logo verification to prove emails sent from a particular domain are genuine.
The certification of the American news channel with a Verified Mark Certificate by DigiCert, Inc. marks the first time a VMC has been issued for a domain that sends emails at scale.
The news follows the announcement on September 4, 2019, that Entrust Datacard had become the first certification authority (CA) to issue a VMC.
VMCs work by verifying the existence of a secure connection between a company domain and a particular sender-designated brand logo included within an email.
The certificates are signed cryptographically with a trusted root, allowing mail applications to rely on the information the certificate contains. The organization is issued a VMC by a CA once the signature process has been completed.
Receiving their certificate has readied CNN for participation in upcoming pilots of the BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) standard, which is being developed by AuthIndicators Working Group. BIMI will allow domain owners to specify a logo that will appear in the inbox, alongside authenticated email messages sent from their domains.
To work, BIMI requires both the email and the logo to be properly validated. The email must be authenticated through the Domain-based Message Authentication, Receiving & Conformance (DMARC) standard, with a policy of quarantine or reject; the logo itself will be validated by the VMC.
While Yahoo Mail is currently running a pilot of BIMI, Google is planning a BIMI pilot of its own in 2020.
VMCs are not currently in use in BIMI pilots, but they are expected to become a requirement because they are a scalable way to ensure that corporate logos are not used fraudulently.
With widespread use of VMC, BIMI, and DMARC, companies will be able to amplify and protect their online presence through authenticated messages to consumers that are instantly recognizable by their known, protected brand marks.
"DigiCert is excited to work with CNN and members of the AuthIndicators Working Group to take this first step in demonstrating the feasibility and benefit of VMCs for global brands under the BIMI pilot program," said DigiCert chief of product Jeremy Rowley.