• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
Tech

Hackers Cripple Leading Marijuana Sales System

By
David Z. Morris
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
David Z. Morris
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 15, 2017, 5:29 PM ET
US-HOLIDAY-INDEPENDENCE DAY-MARIJUANA-MARKET
Photograph by Frederic J. Brown — AFP/Getty Images

The Boston Globe reports that hackers early last week took down the servers of MJ Freeway, a system that tracks marijuana sales and inventory, and helps dispensaries prepare regulatory paperwork. The company says no customer or patient information was stolen during the attack, but large amounts of data was corrupted. The recovery process has been slow, and at least some customers are abandoning the company.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

With their sales systems down, dispensaries have spent the last week struggling to keep things flowing smoothly. One medical nonprofit, New England Treatment Access (NETA), notified clients in the days after the attack that sales would be slower than usual because staff would have to execute them manually. Other outlets, according to Marijuana Business Daily, were forced to close temporarily.

According to a video statement issued yesterday by MJ Freeway CEO Amy Poinsett, the attack took out both MJ Freeway’s production and backup servers, in what she described as an “unprecedented malicious attack.” While the damage from the attack was severe, Poinsett said “much is reparable.”

The recovery process appears to have been agonizing, requiring one-on-one work with clients to recover data and migrate to new infrastructure. Poinsett admits in her statement that “it’s taking more time than we’d like it to,” and some of MJ Freeway’s customers have run out of patience. In a more recent update posted to their website, NETA says that “Our staff has been working night and day with [MJ Freeway] to get us back online, but to no avail. Therefore, we have decided to transition to a new system.”

For more on the pot industry, watch our video.

An MJ Freeway spokesperson told the Globe last week that the attack was specifically targeted at MJ Freeway, which is based in Denver. The company reports that it has received no ransom demands, suggesting that the attack could have been personally or politically motivated.

MJ Freeway, which serves more than 1,000 clients, is one of the most prominent startups providing technical infrastructure for the booming legal marijuana industry. In a 2015 Bloomberg profile, the company’s services were described as something like SAP or Oracle for weed, with features like automatic sales reports, staff scheduling, and crop data tracking.

There is currently no information on possible culprits in the attack.

About the Author
By David Z. Morris
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Economy
The $38 trillion national debt is to blame for over $1 trillion in annual interest payments from here on out, CRFB says
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 17, 2025
3 days ago
placeholder alt text
AI
Meta’s 28-year-old billionaire prodigy says the next Bill Gates will be a 13-year-old who is ‘vibe coding’ right now
By Eva RoytburgDecember 19, 2025
20 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Success
As graduates face a ‘jobpocalypse,’ Goldman Sachs exec tells Gen Z they need to know their commercial impact 
By Preston ForeDecember 18, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Billionaire who sold two companies to Coca-Cola says he tries to persuade people not to become entrepreneurs: ‘Every single day, you can go bankrupt’
By Dave SmithDecember 19, 2025
16 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Success
The scientist who helped create AI says it’s only ‘a matter of time’ before every single job is wiped out—even safer trade jobs like plumbing
By Orianna Rosa RoyleDecember 19, 2025
16 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
‘This is a wacky number’: economists cry foul as new government data assumes zero housing inflation in surprising November drop
By Eva RoytburgDecember 18, 2025
1 day ago

Latest in Tech

Sam Altman looks down and to the side, frowning.
AIOpenAI
Sam Altman says he’s ‘0%’ excited to be CEO of a public company as OpenAI drops hints about an IPO: ‘In some ways I think it’d be really annoying’
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 19, 2025
13 hours ago
AIDebt
AI hyperscalers have room for ‘elevated debt issuance’ — even after their recent bond binge, BofA says
By Jason MaDecember 19, 2025
14 hours ago
Late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs
SuccessCareers
Steve Jobs sold his Volkswagen to raise $1,300 for Apple’s first computer. He became a millionaire just two years later at 23
By Emma BurleighDecember 19, 2025
14 hours ago
Yann LeCun smiles and adjusts his glasses
AIVenture Capital
AI whiz Yann LeCun is already targeting a $3.5 billion valuation for his new startup—and it hasn’t even launched yet
By Dave SmithDecember 19, 2025
14 hours ago
David Baszucki with his thumbs up
SuccessCareer Advice
Roblox CEO David Baszucki went from window cleaner to billionaire tech leader. He says a secret to success has been trusting his gut
By Preston ForeDecember 19, 2025
14 hours ago
Graphite team standing in an office
AICoding
Exclusive: Cursor acquires code review startup Graphite as AI coding competition heats up
By Beatrice NolanDecember 19, 2025
15 hours ago