Blood Donation Center Serving Hundreds Of Hospitals Impacted By ‘Ransomware Event’

 OneBlood, a non-profit blood bank serving hundreds of hospitals across the southeastern United States, experienced a ransomware attack.

“OneBlood serves 355 hospitals across Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia,” The Epoch Times stated.

The event impacted its software system and slowed down operations.

“OneBlood takes the security of our network extremely seriously. Our team reacted quickly to assess our systems and began an investigation to confirm the full nature and scope of the event. 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, said in a press release.

Per OneBlood:

Although OneBlood remains operational and continues to collect, test and distribute blood, they are operating at a significantly reduced capacity.

“We have implemented manual processes and procedures to remain operational. Manual processes take significantly longer to perform and impacts inventory availability. In an effort to further manage the blood supply we have asked the more than 250 hospitals we serve to activate their critical blood shortage protocols and to remain in that status for the time being,” said Forbes.

To help augment their supply the national blood community is rallying to assist OneBlood and the hospitals and patients it serves. Blood centers across the country are sending blood and platelets to OneBlood, and the AABB Disaster Task Force is coordinating national resources to assist with additional blood products being sent to OneBlood. All blood types are needed, but there is an urgent need for O Positive, O Negative and Platelet donations.

“The blood supply cannot be taken for granted. The situation we are dealing with is ongoing. If you are eligible to donate, we urge you to please make an appointment to donate as soon as possible,” said Forbes.

From The Epoch Times:

The ransomware attack on OneBlood is the latest in a series of hacking attempts targeting U.S. health care facilities.

In February, threat actors targeted health insurance company UnitedHealth Group’s Change Healthcare unit. The company determined the attack may have compromised certain personal identifiable information and protected health details.
During a House hearing in May, the company’s CEO said an estimated one-third of Americans could have had their sensitive health information leaked to the dark web. He said the company paid the hackers $22 million in bitcoin as ransom.

A data breach of health care service provider Kaiser Permanente in April is estimated to have affected roughly 13.4 million individuals.

A June report by data security company SecurityScorecard pointed out that 35 percent of third-party data breaches in the United States last year affected health care organizations, “outpacing every other sector.”

“The supplier ecosystem is a highly desirable target for ransomware groups. Attackers can infiltrate hundreds of organizations through a single vulnerability without being detected,” it said.

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