A cyberattack on a blood-donation nonprofit could have a massive impact on hundreds of hospitals in the southeastern United States, according to a report.
CNN first reported the cyberattack on OneBlood, which is now raising concerns about how it may impact the hospitals that the nonprofit serves, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Currently, the incident is being investigated as a potential ransomware attack on OneBlood’s software systems.
An advisory sent to healthcare providers by the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center reports that OneBlood’s “outage” impacts how it ships “blood products” to hospitals in Florida.
Until the issue is resolved, it is “operating at a significantly reduced capacity,” the nonprofit shared in a statement.
This means that OneBlood has been manually labeling blood products as it works to restore its systems to normal operating function, the advisory shared.
Hospitals in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida are all serviced by the nonprofit, according to its website.
OneBlood said in its statement that the issues stemmed from a ransomware attack, noting that it was working with cybersecurity experts and law enforcement.
“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,” Susan Forbes, a spokeswoman for OneBlood, shared.
Forbes also encouraged those who can to donate blood, as donations are already at a low point being that it is summer.
“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,” Forbes said.