Mass. Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Caught in Apparent Hack

Seven medical marijuana dispensaries in Massachusetts are among the marijuana vendors impacted by an apparent hack of sales and tracking systems across the country, according to The Boston Globe, picking up on a report by trade publication Marijuana Business Daily.

According to the paper, the MJ Freeway sales and inventory system is "widely used in the cannabis industry," and described as "a major tool for marijuana dispensaries, which use it to ring up sales to customers, track inventory, prepare required reports to state regulators and other business functions."

In an interview with the Globe, MJ Freeway's executive director of data and marketing described the incident as a targeted cyber-attack.

New England Treatment Access posted a notice to patients on its website Monday:

We are currently experiencing a service outage of our sales tracking software, MJ Freeway. The state's virtual gateway remains functional. We will be open at both locations for normal business hours. However, as we will need to conduct certain sales functions manually, your visit may take longer than usual. As such, if your schedule allows we recommended delaying your visit to NETA until this issue has been resolved.Please check back for real-time updates.

NETA has medical dispensaries in Northampton and Brookline.

Alternative Therapies Group, which has a shop in Salem, posted a similar notice warning of a nationwide service outage.

Read more from The Boston Globe here.

Photo from Dank Depot, Flickr/Creative Commons