Hospitals warn of ‘critical blood shortage’ & urgent need for donations as cyber attack wreaks havoc on OneBlood supply

HOSPITALS have been warned of a critical blood shortage after a cyber attack targeted one of the top donation suppliers.

OneBlood is urging Americans to donate blood as the ransomware attack has significantly affected the nonprofit center’s ability to distribute life-saving donations .

Getty

Getty

Getty

Getty

The attack has caused the Orlando -based organization to use manual processes and procedures, which take longer to perform – meaning the center’s inventory has been thrown into a chaotic shortage.

Susan Forbes, OneBlood senior vice president of corporate communications and public relations, said that the organization has asked hospitals to send more blood during the attack .

“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,” Forbes said in a statement.

All blood types are needed, but there’s an urgent need for O positive, O negative and platelet donations.

The Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies  Disaster Task Force is also coordinating national resources to help with additional blood products.

“The blood supply cannot be taken for granted,” Forbes said.

“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.”

The nonprofit services Florida , Georgia , and the Carolinas with nearly 300 locations across the states.

Donors can typically give blood by visiting a donation center or the organization’s Big Red Bus.

The center is continuing to collect, test, and distribute blood at a reduced capacity as OneBlood works with cyber security specialists and police to investigate the situation.

“OneBlood takes the security of our network extremely seriously,” Forbes said.

“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.”

It’s unclear if the attack has caused a data leak of personal information.

What to know about OneBlood

OneBlood provides lifesaving blood, platelets, plasma, and therapeutic plasma exchanges to hundreds of hospitals.

The nonprofit distributes more than one million products a year.

OneBlood serves hospitals in the following states:

• Alabama
• Florida
• Georgia
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Virginia

However, OneBlood promised to provide credit monitoring services to donors if personal information has been compromised.

OneBlood is required to keep donor records due to rules by the Food and Drug Administration, according to their website .

This means that donors can’t revoke permissions to their data.

REWARDS ARE SAFE

OneBlood typically offers rewards and incentives to donors at blood drives, but the center assured donors that the rewards haven’t been compromised.

However, the donor rewards store has been disabled “out of an abundance of caution” during the attack, OneBlood said.

Due to the outage, the center can’t currently process therapeutic donations.

OneBlood