Harvested cannabis is shown in Fenwick, Ont. on Tuesday, June 26, 2018. Another data breach has hit Ontario's cannabis sector and left sales figures from pot shops now spreading among competitors. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin
TORONTO – Ontario cannabis stores are seeing their sales data shared among competitors without their approval for at least the second time in a year.
The province’s pot distributor, the Ontario Cannabis Store, and regulator, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, say stores informed them last week that confidential sales data was circulating within the industry.
Spokespeople for both organizations say they investigated and determined the data was not theirs.
Jennawae McLean, the co-founder of Kingston, Ont. cannabis store chain Calyx + Trichomes, says she reported the incident to cannabis regulators last week, when she was sent data shared among retailers.
She says the data set features store names and sales figures for each category of product, including accessories, which she says stores do not submit to the OCS or AGCO, leading her to believe the data was scraped from websites.
She adds the data set is an Excel file with figures for Hamilton stores but has hundreds of hidden cells leading her to believe other areas may be impacted.
Ontario cannabis stores previously saw other sales data “misappropriated, disclosed, and distributed unlawfully” after an OCS breach last spring.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2023.
