MinutesLink Marketing Emails and Calendar Access

Summary

Many U-M community members have received a marketing email inviting them to join MinutesLink. While the email itself is not harmful, clicking the link will prompt the MinutesLink Calendar service to access your contacts and invite them to join.
 

ITS Information Assurance (IA) has contacted individuals who have connected MinutesLink to their U-M Google account.

Problem

U-M community members have received a marketing email inviting them to join MinutesLink. While the email isn’t malicious, clicking the link will prompt the MinutesLink Calendar service to access your contact list and invite your contacts to join the service.

MinutesLink is not an approved service and should not be used with sensitive university data. 

Recommended:

Threats

If you have granted MinutesLink access to your Google Calendar, MinutesLink may send unsolicited marketing emails and meeting invitations using your name. The service scans your calendar for email addresses and contacts those individuals as part of its outreach, which may result in unexpected emails to you and your colleagues.

Because U-M does not have a data security agreement with MinutesLink, we cannot ensure the safety of any data you share with MinutesLink, including the content of meetings where MinutesLink is being used. 

Affected Systems

  • Google Email and Calendar
  • Zoom

Action Items

If you have already joined MinutesLink, please visit your Google Account Third-Party Permissions and remove MinutesLink Calendar access.

If you need help, contact the ITS Service Center.

How We Protect U-M

ITS provides guidance for staying safe online, protecting your devices and data, and more on the Safe Computing website. Consult the Sensitive Data Guide to ensure the use of appropriate services when working with university data.

Questions, Concerns, Reports

Please contact ITS Information Assurance through the ITS Service Center.