CNN.com receives first Verified Mark Certificate in preparation for BIMI email standard

Identity and encryption provider DigiCert, Inc. has issued that world’s first Verified Mark Certificate (VMC) to CNN.com, a move that will enable the company to participate in upcoming trials of the Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI).

VMC, a new digital certificate that validates the authenticity of the brand logo attached to an email sender’s domain. The BIMI standard requires validated logos but currently does not use VMC. The certificate is expected to become a requirement for senders in the next year in addition to domain authentication through DMARC.

Why we should care

The BIMI initiative will be a new standard for high-volume senders that will allow brands to display designated logos for authenticated messages. And while DMARC will authenticate the domain sending an email, VMC will validate the logo itself in order for BIMI to work.

Yahoo Mail is currently running a pilot of BIMI, and Google has announced plans for its BIMI pilot for next year. Other inbox providers are also expected to begin pilot programs in the coming months. Through these programs — and taking the right steps to configure certificates — marketers will be positioned to increase their brands’ online presence, increase brand recognition and establish trust amongst email recipients.

“CNN’s adoption of BIMI with VMC is a game-changing development for the email ecosystem and demonstrates CNN’s technical leadership,” said Seth Blank, director of industry initiatives for Valimail and chair of the AuthIndicators Working Group, which is developing the BIMI standard. “We commend DigiCert for helping to lay the groundwork for this important enhancement of internet email. The AuthIndicators Working Group is excited for many more brands to follow CNN’s leadership.”

More on the news

• The VMC certificate issued by DigiCert to CNN.com is the first certificate for a domain used to send high volume consumer emails.
• DigiCert will work with members of the AuthIndicators Working Group to issue VMCs to brands at scale.
• DigiCert plans to have VMCs integrated into its DigiCert CertCentral platform by early 2020.

About The Author

Jennifer Cannon

Jennifer Videtta Cannon serves as Third Door Media's Senior Editor, covering topics from email marketing and analytics to CRM and project management. With over a decade of organizational digital marketing experience, she has overseen digital marketing operations for NHL franchises and held roles at tech companies including Salesforce, advising enterprise marketers on maximizing their martech capabilities. Jennifer formerly organized the Inbound Marketing Summit and holds a certificate in Digital Marketing Analytics from MIT Sloan School of Management.