The nonprofit blood donation center that serves much of the southeast said Wednesday it fell victim to a cyber attack, leaving hundreds of hospitals potentially facing shortages.
The ransomware attack hit OneBlood’s software system, forcing it to use “manual processes and procedures to remain operational,” the company said in a statement. Those procedures take longer so the amount of blood and blood products available could fall.
CNN, which first reported the attack, said the problem is impacting the nonprofit’s ability to ship its products to Florida hospitals. That was based on an advisory sent to health care providers by the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center, a cyberthreat-sharing group, and reviewed by CNN, the network reported..
OneBlood serves more than 250 hospitals in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina.
It’s unclear when OneBlood operations will return to normal, as the company is still unable to access its software, said Susan Forbes, a OneBlood spokeswoman, Wednesday afternoon. The situation is “unprecedented” for the company, she added, and shows the blood supply should not be taken for granted.
“People depend on us to live,” Forbes added.
The company, she said in a statement released Wednesday morning, worked “quickly to assess our systems and began an investigation to confirm the full nature and scope of the event.”
It’s unclear whether donors’ personal data was impacted by the cyber attack, the agency said, but OneBlood will provide credit monitoring services if personal information was compromised.
OneBlood asked hospitals to “activate critical blood shortage protocols” and is also asking for donations. Hospitals urgently need O Positive, O Negative and platelet blood donations, the agency said.
