• by Shankar Gupta , October 27, 2005

E-mail authentication firm Goodmail Systems Wednesday announced a deal with Yahoo! and America Online to certify certain e-mails from senders like banks or charities, to stop fraud or phishing schemes from targeting users.

The service, called CertifiedEmail, marks with an icon e-mail from users who have signed up with Goodmail as authenticated in the user's inbox--allowing e-mail users to be certain that the e-mail actually came from the sender it claims.

At this time, Yahoo! and AOL will continue to deliver e-mails from senders that have not signed up with Goodmail.

Among the first organizations to use Goodmail on AOL and Yahoo!'s e-mail services will be the American Red Cross, which sends e-mails soliciting donations, but has also had its name used by online scammers in the wake of disasters such as the South Asian Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

To have e-mails authenticated by Goodmail, senders must register with the company, and then have their e-mailing practices evaluated; for example, Goodmail checks that users are able to opt-out of newsletters and product mailings.