July 31, 2024 at 02:19PM
OneBlood, a major U.S. blood center, faces an IT outage due to a ransomware attack. This affects blood collection and distribution, potentially impacting surgeries and treatments. Operations are reduced, encouraging urgent O Positive, O Negative, and Platelet donations. Similar to a UK incident, the attack prompts hospital blood shortage protocols and redirects blood supplies.
From the meeting notes:
– OneBlood, a not-for-profit blood center in the U.S., has experienced a ransomware attack causing IT systems outage and concern for blood supply stability in the Southeast.
– The attack disrupted blood sample collection, impacting surgeries and treatments, and forced the organization to resort to manual processes, reducing operational capacity significantly.
– Over 250 hospitals served by OneBlood are activating critical blood shortage protocols to manage existing supplies for those in need.
– A coalition of blood donation centers and AABB Disaster Task Force is directing blood products to OneBlood to maintain vital blood flow to hospitals and patients.
– Urgent need for O Positive, O Negative, and Platelet donations has been highlighted, similar to the U.K.’s NHS experience with a ransomware attack causing a shortage of O type blood supply due to limited compatibility with recipients.
– Donor Rewards have been temporarily disabled, and the organization plans to offer credit monitoring services to potentially impacted individuals.
The organization is actively working with local and federal agencies to respond to the situation and is focused on restoring full functionality to its systems while mitigating risks to donors and potentially impacted individuals.