Cyberattack targets blood-donation nonprofit

CHARLOTTE — A cyberattack hit OneBlood, a nonprofit that gives blood to hospitals across the southeast, including some in our area.

OneBlood put out an urgent call for donors while it operated at a reduced capacity. The nonprofit said it’s affecting its ability to deliver blood to hospitals.

On Monday, the nonprofit said some of its systems were back online. But the cyberattack caused OneBlood to ask hospitals to enter “critical blood shortage protocols,” which means hospitals must manage their supply, according to Susan Forbes, spokesperson for the nonprofit.

“They are implementing their own protocols,” Forbes said on Wednesday. “They’re to manage the supply that they have on hand and assess what they need when they need it.”

The cyberattack was “a ransomware event that is impacting its software system,” OneBlood stated on its website.

Forbes did not say what the hackers are asking for as ransom, so Channel 9′s Evan Donovan pushed for an answer on whether patient data could be at risk.

“Cybersecurity specialists are in the middle of an ongoing investigation, looking at the size and scope of this with us, as well as whether any issue with data,” Forbes said. “At this point, nothing to report out. As we learn more, we will share it.”

Nearly 7 million people in the U.S. give blood every year, donating nearly 14 million units, according to the Red Cross.

OneBlood said it’s getting help from other blood donation groups to backfill the supply and has moved to manual operations by fulfilling orders by hand.

OneBlood said it has an urgent need for donations while it navigates the cyberattack.

“We are encouraging appointments because we’ve moved to manual processes,” Forbes said. “So, we want to be able to space out donors enough, so they do not have to wait. But walk-ins are also welcome.”

Donavan reached out to Atrium Health and Novant Health to see how this is affecting their operations. Novant said its primary blood supplier is the Red Cross so it’s not that impacted.

We are waiting for Atrium’s response.

In the meantime, OneBlood said it expects more improvements throughout the week.

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