The New York Blood Center (NYBC), an extensive nonprofit blood center in America is currently facing service interruptions due to a crippling ransomware onslaught.
On Wednesday, NYBC announced that their IT systems were under suspicious activities, confirmed to be a ransomware attack, on January 26. They took prompt actions, including disconnecting certain systems to manage the threat.
The impact of this incident has caused a significant disruption in operations. NYBC, which supports over 200 hospitals in the Northeast US, and offers transfusion-related medical services to an excess of 500 hospitals across the nation, said the adversities will cause donation center activities and blood drives to be rescheduled. Blood donation processing times may elongate more than usual.
During this pressing time, NYBC highlighted that they are assiduously working to restore their systems fully, albeit, they did not assure a definite timeline for this restoration.
This issue surfaces just after the NYBC recently proclaimed a ‘blood emergency’ following a 30% plunge in donations that has substantially impacted the region’s blood supply.
The cyberattack’s perpetrators have not been confirmed, with no major ransomware group claiming responsibility for the breach presently. It is also unclear whether any donor data was breached during this attack or if NYBC received a ransom demand. Complete details regarding these matters are yet to surface.
Original source: Read the full article on TechCrunch
