Verified Mark Certificates (VMC) are a required component of BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification). BIMI is an email authentication standard aimed at enhancing email security and brand recognition in the inbox. A Verified Mark Certificate is a cryptographic token issued by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA) that validates the association between a brand's logo and its domain. The primary purpose of a VMC is to enable email clients, email apps and webmail inbox providers to securely display brand logos and/or other visual trust indicators alongside BIMI authenticated emails. To obtain a VMC, a brand must go through a verification process to prove ownership of the domain and the associated brand logo. Once verified, the CA issues a VMC that is installed on the domain's servers, or hosted on the CA's servers and it is used to sign outgoing emails.
When a recipient's email client receives an email with a VMC-signed logo, it verifies the authenticity of the logo using the VMC and displays it alongside the email. This provides recipients with a visual indicator of the sender's legitimacy and helps differentiate legitimate emails from phishing attempts or fraudulent messages.
VMCs complement existing email authentication mechanisms such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC by enhancing brand visibility and recognition in the inbox. By displaying brand logos alongside authenticated emails, VMCs strengthen trust between senders and recipients, improve brand recognition, and contribute to a more secure and user-friendly email experience for all parties involved.
You can learn more about how DMARC, BIMI, SPF and DKIM work together as we have created an entire section that tackles these topics from start to finish within this knowledge base. GlowHost also offers Managed DMARC, Managed BIMI and Managed VMC Services for those that would prefer a "done for you" hands-off DMARC + BIMI + VMC approach. Our managed service is also suitable for those organizations that prefer to entirely outsource or simply supplement their own IT department's management of their DMARC, BIMI and VMC policy. GlowHost's Managed DMARC, Managed BIMI and Managed VMC Service combine experienced DMARC and BIMI technicians and advisors with a Software as a Service DMARC dashboard complete with graphs, robust reporting, BIMI management facility and issuance of the required VMC including logo support and creation services.