Ransomware attack disrupted New York Blood Centre's operations across multiple sites

The New York Blood Centre, a community, nonprofit blood bank, said it experienced a data security incident that affected daily operations and delayed blood collection at multiple divisions.

 

Established in 1964, New York Blood Centre is a community, nonprofit blood bank and supplies blood to approximately 200 hospitals in the Northeast United States.

 

In a data security incident notice published on its website, NYBC said that on January 26, its operating divisions identified suspicious activity in its internal network. The blood bank immediately launched an investigation, with assistance from external cyber security experts, to determine the nature and scope of the incident.

 

“This investigation has confirmed that the suspicious activity is a result of a ransomware incident,” reads the notice. NYBC said it took the affected systems offline to contain the incident and notified relevant law enforcement authorities about the same.

 

The blood bank later confirmed that it is still accepting “blood donations, but processing times may be longer than normal at donation centres and blood drives.” In fact, it might have to cancel and reschedule blood donation appointments if required.

 

The organisation is in the process of recovering from the ransomware attack and restoring its systems; however, it couldn’t give a definite time for the blood bank to return to regular operation.

 

“At this time, we do not have a specific timetable for system restoration. We are working diligently with third-party experts to restore our systems as quickly and safely as possible,” NYBC said.

 

“In the coming weeks, it may be necessary for us to do another push for more blood donations once we work through this challenge, and we will count on our community’s support,” it added.

 

At the time of publishing, no known ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the attack on NYBC. The organisation is also yet to share details on who is behind the incident, how the threat actors infiltrated its internal network or whether it has received a ransom demand.