By Alicia Wallace | CNN Business
Cannabis is an emerging industry with stratospheric growth expectations. Like the California Gold Rush, the dot-com boom and every other new market with boundless potential, the cannabis industry also has the tendency to attract some sketchy characters with dubious motives.
Security experts have long warned that the cannabis industry is susceptible to both cybercriminal and fraudulent activities. It’s not exactly the Wild West anymore: Businesses and state-legal markets have matured. But risks and concerns about criminal activity and fraud haven’t waned.
Just weeks into 2020, the cannabis industry has been the subject of several high-profile incidents: a reported dispensary point-of-sale system hack that potentially exposed the data of 30,000 people; the US Securities and Exchange Commission charging two men who allegedly used a fake cannabis company as a front for a Ponzi scheme; and the conviction of a former Colorado cannabis entrepreneur in one of the state’s largest fraud cases.
