Ransomware attack impacts OneBlood in Florida

OneBlood, a blood donation center serving hundreds of hospitals in the southeastern United States, was hit by a ransomware attack that crippled the organization’s software systems.

The organization said it will continue to collect, test and distribute blood, but there may be delays in getting blood to hospitals.

“OneBlood takes the security of our network extremely seriously,” Susan Forbes, senior vice president of corporate communications and public relations at OneBlood, said in a press release Wednesday. “Our comprehensive response efforts are ongoing and we are working diligently to restore full functionality of our systems as quickly as possible.”

Delays are caused by the loss of automated systems due to a cyberattack, negatively impacting order fulfillment times and warehouse capacity.

In response, the organization asked the more than 250 hospitals it serves to implement critical blood shortage protocols and keep them in place until the software issues were resolved.

Thomas Hyslip, an assistant professor in the Cybercrime Program in the Department of Criminology at the University of South Florida, said these types of cybersecurity threats are becoming increasingly common in the healthcare sector and other critical sectors.

“Healthcare in general has been hit hard over the last few years,” Hyslip said. “That’s because it’s such critical infrastructure that they’re more likely to pay the ransom quickly to get back online than risk being offline for a long time.”

Other blood donation centers across the country have begun working with OneBlood, coordinating efforts to provide additional blood products until work to restore center operations is completed.

The organization is appealing to people eligible to donate blood to make an appointment as soon as possible.

You can find more information about donating blood through OneBlood here.