The nonprofit blood donation center OneBlood said Wednesday it had been hit by a ransomware attack that was impacting its software system.
The blood center serves much of the southeastern U.S. and is the sole provider for Atrium Health. It also provides blood for Levine Center Institute, Levine Children's Hospital and the Jeff Gordon Children's Center in Charlotte.
"Our comprehensive response efforts are ongoing and we are working diligently to restore full functionality to our systems as expeditiously as possible," Susan Forbes, a center spokesperson, said in a statement.
The statement said OneBlood was working with cyber security specialists, as well as federal, state and local agencies as part of the center's response.
The center remains operational and continues to collect, test and distribute blood, though staff are operating at a "significantly reduced capacity," the center said.
"We have implemented manual processes and procedures to remain operational," Forbes said. "Manual processes take significantly longer to perform and impact inventory availability."
OneBlood has asked the more than 250 hospital it serves to activate their critical blood shortage protocols for the time being.
The center said there while all blood types are needed, there is an especially urgent need for O Positive, O Negative and platelet donations. Appointments can made on the OneBlood website.
