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Cann Group: Medicinal cannabis business investigates $3.6m cyber attack

The company behind a $112 million Mildura medicinal cannabis facility has been stung in a multimillion-dollar cyber attack.

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A Victorian medical cannabis company says it is investigating how $3.6 million in payments to an overseas contractor were received by an “unknown third party”.

Cann Group said in a statement to the ASX the payments were for works at the $112 million facility being built in Mildura.

The matter was being treated as a “complex and sophisticated cyber fraud perpetuated against the company and its overseas contractor”.

“The company is working with its bank to determine if any of the payments can be halted and if any of the funds can be recovered,” the Cann statement said.

“The company has notified its insurance brokers to determine if a claim can be made to recover any of the losses involved.

“Immediate action has also been taken to ensure the integrity of Cann’s IT systems.”

The breach was discovered on February 4.

Cannabis growing at the Cann Group facility in Victoria, used for medicinal purposes and research. Credit: Cann Group
Cannabis growing at the Cann Group facility in Victoria, used for medicinal purposes and research. Credit: Cann Group

Cann and the contractor are investigating the incident, which has been reported to the Office of Drug Control and police in Victoria, the Netherlands and Hong Kong.

External security and forensic IT experts have been engaged.

Cann said it was in a financial position to continue with its operations, including construction of the Mildura facility, whether the money is recovered or not.

Key regulatory hurdles for the Mildura site were cleared late last year, after a $50 million bank loan from NAB had been secured for the project.

There were delays to the project during 2020 that were attributed to COVID-19 restrictions and specialist contractors based in Europe being unable to visit the site.

Cann Group, which is based in Melbourne, have forecast the first product from the Mildura site to be processed and released by March 2022.

michael.difabrizio@news.com.au

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Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/mildura/cann-group-medicinal-cannabis-business-investigates-36m-cyber-attack/news-story/85689c3b111b770e8581c279a7a6ef57