OneBlood, Florida’s primary blood distributor, says it is operating normally again, less than two weeks after a ransomware attack took down the nonprofit’s computer network.
“OneBlood is processing and distributing blood products to the more than 250 hospitals we serve at a normal output,” Susan Forbes, the nonprofit’s senior vice president of corporate communications and public relations, said in a statement Thursday.
OneBlood supplies blood to hospitals in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
The July 29 cyberattack hindered OneBlood’s processing and labeling capabilities. By Sunday, parts of the network were back online, and distribution to hospitals was at 100 percent by midweek.
“The priority has been to bring the critical software system used to manage the blood supply back online, and this has been accomplished,” Forbes said.
An investigation is ongoing regarding the cyberattack and whether donor data was compromised.
With the blood supply stabilized, OneBlood informed the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies that supplemental shipments of blood and platelets were no longer necessary.
The AABB’s disaster task force coordinated with blood collectors around the country to ensure needs were met in the areas served by OneBlood.
“The combined efforts from the task force, along with a tremendous response from OneBlood donors answering the call for blood and platelet donations, ensured our lifesaving mission prevailed, no matter the circumstances,” Forbes said.
Meantime, Tropical Storm Debby is still affecting blood collection and distribution transportation in parts of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, so the AABB task force said it is remaining activated to monitor the blood supply in those regions.
Debby made landfall Monday on the Gulf Coast of Florida as a Category 1 hurricane. Then, Debby made a second landfall Thursday in South Carolina as a tropical storm. Now a depression, it continues to drench the Carolinas and is expected to cause flooding across the mid-Atlantic states.
