JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – OneBlood, a not-for-profit blood center serving much of the southeastern United States, said Wednesday it is experiencing a “ransomware event” that is impacting its software system.
CNN reported that the outage is affecting the nonprofit’s ability to ship blood products, including to some hospitals in Florida.
OneBlood said it is working closely with cyber security specialists and also federal, state and local agencies as part of their comprehensive response to the situation.
“OneBlood takes the security of our network extremely seriously. 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,” said Susan Forbes, OneBlood senior vice president of corporate communications and public relations.
Although OneBlood remains operational and continues to collect, test and distribute blood, it said it is operating at a significantly reduced capacity.
“We have implemented manual processes and procedures to remain operational. Manual processes take significantly longer to perform and impact inventory availability. 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,” said Forbes.
To help augment their supply, the national blood community is rallying to assist OneBlood and the hospitals and patients it serves. Blood centers across the country are sending blood and platelets to OneBlood, and the AABB Disaster Task Force is coordinating national resources to assist with additional blood products being sent to OneBlood. All blood types are needed, but there is an urgent need for O-positive, O-negative and platelet donations.
“The blood supply cannot be taken for granted. 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,” said Forbes.
OneBlood will offer a credit monitoring service if it is determined any donor information is compromised. When it comes to taking any of your data permissions away from the organization, it says they are required to keep donor records by the FDA.