Google has announced the pilot for corporate avatars in Gmail that is linked to the adoption of DMARC, a series of new G Suite security features to protect Gmail, Meet and Chat, and new tools for administrators to manage mobile devices and leak of Google Drive data.
Google has announced the pilot of a standard it supports called Brand Indicators for Message Identification or BIMI for organizations that want their email to display a corporate logo in the Gmail avatar slot.
However, the BIMI pilot is not just for marketing as it will require participating organizations to authenticate their emails using Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Compliance or DMARC.
SEE: Information security policy (TechRepublic Premium)
The DMARC protocol can help eliminate email phishing, a key ingredient in phishing attacks and commercial email compromise (BEC) scams.
But, in part because implementing DMARC is not easy, adoption of the email authentication protocol has remained extremely low in the public and private sectors, with the exception of US federal agencies that are subject to an order. of the 2017 DHS that requires the adoption of DMARC.
Google’s branding initiative could be a carrot for DMARC adoption while helping to keep email marketing relevant and protecting the medium from an erosion of trust. In China, DMARC adoption is surprisingly low, probably because consumers prefer corporate communications via WeChat and SMS rather than email.
Organizations using DMARC can submit their corporate logos to Entrust Datacard and DigiCert certification authorities to validate logo ownership. Once authenticated emails have been scanned by Google’s anti-abuse checks, Gmail will display the logo in the avatar box.
The pilot begins in a few weeks with a limited number of senders before a full deployment planned in the coming months. From there, organizations can choose whether they want to adopt the BIMI standard.
Google is also tightening security controls for Google Meet, one of the options schools and workplaces turned to for working remotely during the coronavirus pandemic.
Meeting hosts will have more control over who can ‘tap’ to join a meeting. If a host initiates a meeting attendee, that attendee can no longer rejoin the same meeting by tapping and will only be allowed to return if the host re-invites them.
Meet will also automatically block attendees from sending requests to join a meeting if their receipt request has already been rejected multiple times.
And Meet hosts are gaining ‘advanced security locks’ that allow them to decide how others can join a meeting, for example through a calendar invitation or a phone. It also requires users to obtain explicit approval to join a meeting.
Security locks block all users who have not logged into a Google account, considered anonymous users by Google, from joining a meeting. It also offers the host the ability to control which attendees can chat and present within a meeting.
These build on features that Google announced in April to thwart pranksters involved in ‘zoombombing’ or online meetings and classrooms.
To counter zoombombing, last week Google launched a Meet for Education users feature that prevents anonymous users from joining meetings hosted by anyone with a G Suite for Education or G Suite Enterprise for Education license.
Meanwhile, Gmail Chat is gaining Gmail’s phishing protections. Links sent to chat users will now be scanned with Google Safe Browsing and marked as malicious. In the coming weeks, Chat users will also be able to report and block Chat Rooms suspected of being suspicious.
SEE: Google: this is how phishing and malware attacks evolve
Finally, Google is introducing changes for G Suite administrators aimed at helping them keep devices safe during this time of increased teleworking.
As part of this effort, Google is integrating with the Apple Business Manager mobile device management system to improve administrators’ ability to manage iPhones and iPads. It is available to G Suite Enterprise, G Suite Enterprise Essentials, Cloud Identity Premium and G Suite Enterprise for Education administrators.
Second, Google is strengthening the data loss prevention feature so that administrators can prevent users from downloading, printing, or copying confidential documents from Google Drive. Administrators can also run a full scan of all files within Google Drive and automatically set controls for all users. The feature is available in beta for G Suite Enterprise, G Suite Enterprise Essentials and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers.
