Ransomware attack disables computers at blood center serving 250 hospitals in southeast US

July 31st, 2024

A phlebotomist makes a fist to instruct a patient to make a fist before he donates blood. — Phlebotomist Josianne Fiefie, right, instructs Miami-Dade County Commissioner Xavier Suarez, left, to make a fist as he donates blood aboard a OneBlood blood donation bus, Wednesday, April 22, 2020, in Miami. A ransomware attack is now affecting OneBlood, which serves much of the southeastern US. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

A not-for-profit blood center serving much of the southeastern United States is facing a ransomware attack, officials said Wednesday.

OneBlood said the attack had disabled its information technology, forcing it to operate at a reduced capacity in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. To manage its blood supply, the blood center was asking more than 250 hospitals to activate their critical blood shortage protocols. The blood center also was using manual processes to maintain basic operations, officials said.

OneBlood is working with cybersecurity specialists as well as federal, state and local agencies to determine the scope of the attack and how to respond, officials said.

“We are working diligently to restore full functionality to our systems as expeditiously as possible,” Susan Forbes, OneBlood’s senior vice president of corporate communications and public relations, said in a statement.

Blood centers across the U.S. were sending extra blood and platelets to OneBlood, which said there’s a particular need for O-positive and O-negative blood.