In this article, veteran emergency preparedness and security professionals examine cyber security in the cannabis industry and showcase information sharing best practices that can provide a roadmap for the cannabis industry moving forward.
The cannabis industry’s advancement towards legalization continues to dominate national headlines, from the stance of incoming Attorney General Merrick Garland to deprioritize enforcement of low-level cannabis crimes, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s continued advocacy, to the recent passing of legislation in New York, New Mexico and Virginia to authorize adult-use cannabis.
Remote Access Threats: As 2020 has forced organizations to rethink how they conduct business and shift to more remote operations than they had in the past, it can open up several new threats.
While small – medium businesses are absolutely at risk, especially given their relative lack of cybersecurity resources and sophistication, a recent trend involves “Big Game Hunting” where cybercriminals are targeting larger organizations with the potential for bigger paydays.
As a platform for cannabis growers around the world , this type of exposure puts the community at great risk, and can lower user confidence in the product, as well as putting them at personal risk of harm or legal ramifications.
The access point coming through Microsoft cloud software is a prime example of some of the challenges facing businesses who have an increasingly remote workforce yet still need that workforce to access critical information.
THSuite: A database owned by seed to sale Point-Of-Sale software provider THSuite was discovered by researchers in December 2019.
Door Dash: As cannabis delivery apps become more prevalent, it’s good to reference how similar businesses in other industries have been targeted.
On an organizational level, employee training, password hygiene and malware protection are some of the basic and most important steps that should be taken by all organizations.
According to Michael Echols, CEO of the International Association of Certified ISAO’s .” The ongoing crisis surrounding the Microsoft Exchange Server Vulnerability demonstrates that different cybercriminal groups will work simultaneously to abuse system flaws.
Andy oversees the Gate 15 team and projects, providing Gate 15’s threat-informed and risk-based approach to analysis, preparedness and operations in support of private sector and government partners across the critical infrastructure and broader homeland security environment, including support to the several information sharing and analysis centers and organizations.
In addition to those duties Ben currently serves as a risk analyst to several Information Sharing & Analysis Centers, and has previous security and operations experience as an Army Officer as well as working through the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Infrastructure Protection.
For five years now, we have been hosting this complimentary collection of webinar presentations, designed to help attendees better understand some of the more technical aspects of starting and operating a laboratory.
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