A new cyber attack for which cybercriminals are demanding a ransom. This time it affects OneBlood, a non-profit organization for blood donation, which distributes blood and its derivatives to hospitals in the southeast of the country.
In a statement posted on its website, OneBlood reported the cyberattack and said it was working closely with its cybersecurity specialists and federal, state and local agencies to address the current situation.
The hack has raised concerns about potential impacts to OneBlood’s service to some hospitals. In our area, OneBlood supplies blood to the Jackson, Baptist, HCA, Larkin, Memorial, Broward Health and Nicklaus hospital networks.
Susan Forbes, Oneblood’s vice president of communications, says, “Despite what’s happening, we’re still operating. Our vital lifesaving mission must prevail, even though we’re doing so at reduced capacity. We’re now back to pen and paper in the midst of this situation when it comes to registering and processing donors, so it’s taking longer.”
OneBlood has been manually labeling blood products as the organization deals with the incident.
However, they say that these manual processes take longer to complete and affect the availability of product inventory, which is why they have asked more than 250 hospitals that they serve to activate their critical blood shortage protocols.
And in light of this situation, OneBlood is asking those who can donate to do so, as blood of all blood types is needed, especially O positive and O negative, as well as platelets.
In the Web page oneblood.org You can find all the donation centers in South Florida where you can go to donate blood.
