Top blood donation service hit by ransomware attack, tells hospitals to activate critical shortage alerts

Nonprofit medical organization OneBlood, which plays a crucial role in serving facilities across the Southeastern US, has been targeted in a ransomware attack which caused an IT systems outage, causingover 250 hospitals to activate critical blood shortage protocols.

The move disrupted services across multiple US states, with the organization operating at a ‘significantly reduced capacity’ – meaning whilst OneBlood continues to collect, test, and distribute blood, it had to return to using manual labelling process, which significantly slows work.

The attack also meant surgeries and treatments were impacted across several states as OneBlood looked to get back up to speed.

Hospitals hit

OneBlood confirmed it is working with local and federal agencies, as well as cyber security specialists to investigate and respond to the incident.

“Our comprehensive response efforts are ongoing and we are working diligently to restore full functionality to our systems as expeditiously as possible,” Susan Forbes, OneBlood senior vice president of corporate communications and public relations reassured.

Healthcare organizations are a frequent target for cyberattacks, as their restricted budgets don’t often stretch to high quality cybersecurity. Whilst it’s not clear who was behind the attack or exactly what the demands were, the sensitive nature of the data held by healthcare organizations is also a contributing factor to their vulnerability.

OneBlood stated all individuals impacted will be informed and provided with credit monitoring services to help protect from the exploitation of their data.

OneBlood urged any donors to arrange an appointment as soon as possible, with the cyber attack outlining the critical need for O Positive, O Negative, and Platelet donations in particular.

Via BleepingComputer