One of the main disadvantages of using digital means to communicate is that it can be hard to know you’re talking to the person you think you’re talking to. There are many bad apples out there that would fool you into revealing secrets, thinking you’re conversing with a confidant.
On social media, the problem of impersonators was there from day one. As a result, most social media sites have some decent verification processes. They especially use it to verify that organisations, public officials and famous people are who they say they are.
Seeing a blue checkmark next to Techzim’s Twitter handle will let you know you are conversing with the real Techzim account. We have seen similar verification badges on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and even WhatsApp.
That’s all great but it’s strange that the same kind of verification has not really been available on email. We get all kinds of sensitive information via email and we send some I-hope-no-one-ever-sees-this kind of information to businesses, doctors and the like via email.
It would really be something if there was some check mark to assure us that we are sending that information to the right recipient. Gmail is rolling the feature out.
Google is introducing a blue tick verification feature to Gmail. It is for users who have verified themselves on Gmail’s BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) feature.
The BIMI feature requires senders to use strong authentication and verify their brand logo in order to display a brand logo as an avatar in emails.
Users will now see a checkmark icon for senders that have adopted the BIMI feature. This will help users identify messages from legitimate senders versus impersonators.
Once you hover over the blue checkmark next to a sender’s name, you will see a blurb that says “The sender of this email has verified that they own the domain and logo in the profile image.”
Gmail is rolling out the blue verified checkmarks across both Workspace accounts and personal Google accounts.
So many times I have seen messages like this: CBZ Warns Customers About Circulating Email They Should Ignore. This new Gmail feature should help with that, even if it is not foolproof.
Also read:
POTRAZ: SMS and e-mail phishing scams on the rise
Phishing Attacks Still Most Popular Method Of Cyber Attacks In Africa
Scammers can now convincingly fake browser windows, including URL. You can protect against that
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12 comments
Several verification methods already exist for email, which include or leverage DKIM, DMARC and BIMI (which isn’t neither new nor owned by Google).
Moda kuita opposite all the time ….who said google owns BIMI in the article 😅
Where does it say, in the comment, the article said Google owns BIMI?
The only emails and phone calls from my bank that I respond to are the one3I would have triggered, e.g. a password reset. The rest are just notications that I never respond by to clocking a link as I can just use the app or independently login to the bank website.
The only emails I really must click on a link in an email are when I request a password reset. Any other email is not acted on other than sending them to a folder marked suspicious. Some I just read the subject line and straight away move the emails to the folder for suspicious emails.
Pindula isn’t loading what’s happening?
Use the application, they have closed the site but you can still download the app from … or play store.
https://zero.pindula.co.zw/download
Just noticed they merged Gmail with GMeet on Androids.
Anything that adds some friction to my folks falling for some Indian scam farm or 419er schemes is a plus to me! I just hope the process is robust enough to not be easily abused.
Gmail getting blue verified checkmarks like Twitter can be helpful in spotting impersonators. It can help users to verify the authenticity of the account and differentiate between the real account and any imposter accounts that may be using the same name or identity. This feature can enhance security and reduce potential fraud and scams.
Guys, f all this nonsense our laws are meant to be broken. Since I’ve been a tech guy long back, there is no method that hasn’t been broken by hackers like me.. Hence its true every law and mechanism hitherto is meant to fail, if you are smart ahead!!!!!
Inonzi techzim dai mavhara. It’s garbage
…yet you are here, fully engaged, boosting the stats😂