The non-profit blood donation service suffered a ransomware attack last week and has requested urgent and emergency blood donations.
The aftermath of the crippling ransomware attack that disrupted OneBlood services, a vital blood donation center serving millions across the southeastern United States, continues to unfold. The incident, which struck on July 29th, 2024, was quite a shocker for the cybersecurity and healthcare community as the organisation functions as a non-profit.
The ransomware attack effectively crippled OneBlood’s IT systems, severely disrupting its operations. The blood donation center was forced to rely on manual processes for collecting, testing, and distributing blood to over 250 hospitals in the region.
Despite the challenges, OneBlood managed to maintain essential services, albeit at an extremely reduced capacity. This effort ensured a continued supply of life-saving blood to patients in urgent need.
As of August 6th, OneBlood was still working on recovery efforts. The organization has announced that its critical software systems have begun to come back online after reverification processes.
While still operating at a reduced capacity, the transition back to an automated production environment is underway, but manual labeling of blood products will continue in the interim. Additionally, OneBlood is gradually reintroducing its electronic registration process for donors.
The ransomware attack on OneBlood shows that cybercriminals do not differentiate between essential services and financial giants based in the financial capital of the world, New York City. They aim to profit from the misery of vulnerable people.
Nevertheless, while the road to full recovery is still ahead, OneBlood urges eligible donors to give blood, particularly platelets, as the demand remains high.
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