Hackers show no mercy—even for pot dispensaries. Anatomy of a national point-of-sale breach and takedown of 1,000-plus marijuana dispensaries

February 20, 2017
MichelleDrolet
Science and Technology
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By Michelle Drolet

Back when Apple was the plucky young upstart that dared to be different, the Mac was the machine for creative types and there was a perception that it wasn’t a target for hackers because of its cultural cool factor.

You would expect the same rules to apply to the legalized marijuana market, but a major hack attack on a pot dispensary last month set that notion up in smoke.

MJ Freeway, providers of popular medical marijuana tracking software, suffered a point-of-sale system hack that left over 1,000 marijuana dispensaries unable to track their sales and inventories. Because of the state regulations regarding the sale of marijuana, some dispensaries were forced to close early or shut their doors completely. The disruption lasted weeks and caused patients to suffer long delays with obtaining access to their medicine.

Closer inspection reveals this was a well-coordinated cyber attack that was intended to take the system down. [Read More @ NetworkWorld]

Michelle Drolet

Michelle Drolet is founder of Towerwall, a woman-owned cybersecurity and cannabis compliance services provider in Framingham, Mass., with clients such as CannaCare, Smith & Wesson, Covenant Healthcare and many mid-size organizations. She can be reached at [email protected].

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