By Rob Meagher

A basic security flaw in the Washington Traceability System Software, supplied by BioTrak THC, could possibly force the state Liquor Control Board to shut down all recreational marijuana sales indefinitely if claims made by Viridian Sciences in a posting on the firm’s website today prove to be true.

In a posting titled, Major Cyber-Security Flaw in Washington State’s Cannabis Tracking System!  by Viridian Sciences | Jan 12, 2015 | Blog, News |, the article begins with a tongue-in-cheek mock ad that says:

Hack the Washington State Marijuana Traceability System in 3 Steps:

1. “Sniff” insecure network traffic.
2. Wait for a licensed marijuana business to log in to the state system
3. Log-in to the state traceability system using your new credentials.”

The article goes on to claim that this security flaw causes users valuable time costs, and, includes false statements within the user interface.

It also draws conclusions regarding potential risks created by this security flaw to state licensed recreational marijuana venues including:

• Physical Theft: Hackers could access outgoing delivery information putting drivers and businesses at risk.
• Industrial Espionage: Hackers could change or delete data throwing businesses into disarray

In a follow-up call to Justin Dufour, President & CEO of Viridian Sciences, CBE asked why is his firm going public with this information now. Below are his comments.

“We have been aware of several short comings in the state’s system for some time and have said nothing, but when we came across this we were shocked. We take pride in our efforts to bringing legitimacy to this industry and this is just unacceptable. Unacceptable not just by our standards but by the development community at large.

Providing businesses and Government in-depth transparency into these business units and the industry as it grows is essential, and is one of the things we strive to do. We do not want to see our customers plagued with security shortcomings. We know this is a new industry but we do not want to see other states make a similar mistake and feel there is a lesson to be learned.”