Large blood center chain hit by ransomware attack

Dive Brief:

• New York Blood Center Enterprises was hit by a ransomware attack earlier this week, forcing the chain of blood donation centers to take some technology systems offline. 
• The centers, which deliver blood products to more than 400 hospitals across the country, are still accepting donations, but processing times could be longer than normal, according to a Wednesday update. Donation center activities and blood drives also may need to be rescheduled. 
• NYBCe doesn’t yet have a specific timeline to restore its systems, the chain said in the press release.

Dive Insight:

The blood centers detected suspicious activity on its IT systems on Sunday, leading NYBCe to contact third-party cybersecurity experts to help the centers conduct an investigation and restore their systems. Law enforcement has also been notified, NYBCe said in the release. 

The organization operates in more than 17 states, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska and Rhode Island. 

The group serves hundreds of hospitals and also provides cellular therapies, specialty pharmacy and medical services to more than 200 research, academic and biopharmaceutical organizations.

NYBCe is in direct communication with hospitals to implement workarounds and fulfill orders, the chain said. A spokesperson for the Greater New York Hospital Association told Healthcare Dive its member hospitals have been in close contact with NYBCe, and the organization isn’t aware of any blood supply delays.

The attack against NYBCe comes as cybersecurity has become a pressing concern for the sector. Ransomware attacks, which use a type of malware to deny users access to their data until a ransom is paid, have increased exponentially over the past seven years, according to the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights.

They can have serious consequences for health systems, shutting down access to critical technology and potentially forcing them to delay care. 

Attacks on key suppliers can also impact care delivery. Last year, a ransomware attack on OneBlood, which serves hundreds of hospitals in the southeastern U.S., forced the blood center to move to manual processes for collecting, testing, processing and distributing blood. Some hospitals moved to use blood conservation protocols after the attack.