(August 4, 2024 – Orlando, Florida) OneBlood, the not-for-profit blood center serving much of the southeastern United States announced its critical software systems utilized to manage its daily operations are starting to come back online.

“Our critical software systems have cleared reverification and are operating in a reduced capacity.  As we begin to transition back to an automated production environment, manual labeling of blood products will continue. Additionally, we are beginning to return to using our electronic registration process for donors.  We continue to move in the right direction and anticipate solid improvement of the blood supply over the next few days,” said Susan Forbes, OneBlood’s senior vice president of corporate communications and public relations.

On Monday, July 29th, OneBlood became the target of ransomware.  The blood center quickly implemented manual processes so it could continue to collect, test, process and distribute blood to more than 250 hospitals throughout the southeastern United States. 

“Manual processes take longer to perform.  We felt the impact of this the most when it came to labeling blood for release to hospitals.  Despite the challenges, we have remained operational throughout the ransomware event. Blood drives are taking place, our donor centers have remained open, and we continue to see a tremendous response from OneBlood donors answering the call for blood donations,” said Forbes. 

As a tropical system approaches Florida, there is an urgent need for platelet donations. All eligible donors are encouraged to make an appointment at www.oneblood.org and donate as soon as possible.

“The investigation into the ransomware event is ongoing.  The OneBlood team along with outside specialists continue to work around the clock to bring our operations back to full capacity as soon as possible,” said Forbes.