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Late last month, a tipster told Postmedia that the information was publicly accessible, without a password, on the website of Vancouver Pain Management Society.

A reporter reviewed some records on the website, and within days, the vulnerability appeared to be closed and that part of the website was no longer viewable last Monday. Last Tuesday and Wednesday, Postmedia emailed the dispensary and spoke by phone to a manager, but did not get a response to questions. Last Wednesday, a reporter visited the Commercial Drive storefront in person.

Vancouver Pain Management eventually referred the questions by email to a lawyer on Wednesday. By last Thursday, the Vancouver Pain Management website had been locked down and replaced with a message notifying members about “the possibility of a minimal breach.”

“As a precaution we have temporarily disabled all access to our website, and cleared any and all data from our servers while we investigate. At this time, we have no evidence that a breach has occurred, but as we take your security as a top concern, we felt it prudent to inform you immediately,” the message said.

Photo by Gosia Wozniacka / AP Files

Last Thursday afternoon, a statement from an unnamed manager of Vancouver Pain Management was delivered through their legal counsel’s office, saying they had been unaware of the breach until Postmedia phoned last week.

“Immediate steps were taken to shut down any access,” said the statement, and “all potentially affected patients were notified of a potential privacy breach on Oct. 5.”