Major U.S. blood donation nonprofit organization OneBlood had its IT network disrupted following a ransomware attack on Wednesday, according to SC Media.
While operations of its blood donation and distribution platforms continue, ongoing challenges in restoring the affected internal systems have prompted OneBlood to seek donations of platelets and blood types O-positive and O-negative, as well as the implementation of critical blood shortage protocols across hospitals. Potential data compromise following the incident is still being investigated.
"Our comprehensive response efforts are ongoing and we are working diligently to restore full functionality to our systems as expeditiously as possible," said OneBlood senior vice president of Corporate Communications and Public Relations Susan Forbes.
Such an incident was noted by KnowBe4 Security Awareness Advocate Erich Kron to be indicative of increasingly brazen cyberattacks against the healthcare sector. "Clearly ransomware has evolved from an annoyance to a potentially dangerous threat to human life. The attacks on healthcare have shown how little regard these attackers have for human life and safety," said Kron.
