A non-profit organisation that administers blood donation, OneBlood, verified that the ransomware attack it suffered last year resulted in stolen data.
In July 2024, this compromised NGO disclosed the attack, stating that ransomware actors had locked its virtual machines, forcing it to resort to manual methods.
The attack might have inflicted significant damage as the affected entity supplies blood to at least 250 hospitals across the US. However, some reports claimed that the attack has already caused blood collection, testing, and distribution delays, prompting ‘critical blood shortage’ policies at some clinics.
OneBlood rolled out advisories about the conclusion of its investigation of the cyberattack.
Earlier this month, OneBlood started distributing data breach emails that notify impacted individuals. The notification letters explain that the NGO has finished its investigation and stated that the exact date of the ransomware attack was July 14, 2024.
The threat actors were in the NGO’s network for at least 15 days when the healthcare institution discovered the hack on July 19, 2024. Additionally, the investigation has uncovered that names and social security numbers are included in the relevant files and folders exposed during the cybersecurity incident.
The investigation claimed that the exposed information is limited to names and Social Security numbers despite blood collection institutions collecting various details, such as phone numbers, email and physical addresses, demographic information, and medical history.
Still, cybercriminals can use names and social security numbers to commit various illegal activities, like identity theft and financial fraud. This risk could last longer than ordinary compromise as the nature of the affected details is difficult to change.
The blood-donating NGO included activation codes in the letter for a free one-year credit monitoring service to mitigate the effects of the cyberattack. Subscribers have until April 9, 2025, to enrol and use it.
Other experts suggest that affected parties consider placing credit freezes and fraud notifications on their accounts to protect themselves financially.
Although OneBlood delivered on its original pledge to notify affected individuals of potential data breaches, the following months after the attack endangered them. As of now, they have not published the exact number of people affected by the ransomware incident.
