Cyber experts offer safety tips following OneBlood ‘ransomware attack’

ORLANDO, Fla. — A blood donation non-profit that serves much of the Southeast is now recovering from a Cyber Attack.

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OneBlood said a ransomware attack is impacting their software systems and affecting more than 250 hospitals.

While OneBlood is still operational and continuing to collect blood, they are operating at significantly reduced capacity.

The non-profit has issued an urgent call for donors. Meanwhile, the hospitals they serve have activated critical blood shortage protocols.

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The ransomware attack comes just weeks after the Florida Department of Health confirmed more than 50,000 files had been compromised in a separate ransomware attack.

According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, global ransomware attacks against the health care sector have nearly doubled from 2022 to 2023 across, reaching a total of 389 claimed victims in 2023 compared with 214 in 2022.

Cyber Security expert Alex Waintraub with Progent said threat actors target healthcare companies because of the vast amount of data that can be breached.

“I mean, when you go to the doctor’s office, you’re providing a lot of information to them. You’re providing your name, you’re providing your address, you’re providing maybe your social security,” said Waintraub.

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According to Waintraub, both large corporations and “mom and pop clinics” can be targeted. He believes one reason for the spike in healthcare sector attacks is because of what he calls “immature cyber programs.”

Meanwhile Cybercrime expert James Turgal with Optiv said attackers make another calculation too as they target healthcare companies.

“Threat actors understand that most of the clinicians, most healthcare providers, their focus is on their patients, right? It’s not about trying to figure out whether or not the particular email they’re looking at is, is a phishing or some type of malware,” said Turgal.

Turgal believes OneBlood was targeted because the organization provides a critical service.

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“These threat actors know that that blood is life saving and that these victims are more likely to pay the ransom quickly because they need to continue to do operations,” said Turgal.

OneBlood said they are still assessing the scope of this attack including any impact to data.

According to OneBlood, they are working closely with cyber security specialists, federal, state, and local agencies on their investigation.

The non-profit said they would provide credit monitoring to anyone who had their personal information compromised.

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In the meantime, here’s what cyber security experts are suggesting for those concerned

• Consider reaching out to credit reporting companies to freeze your credit
• Change all of your account passwords to minimize potential harm
• Watchout for Phishing emails from bad-actors who are looking to re-victimize you

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