New York Blood Center Enterprises hit by ransomware attack

A cyber attack has forced a US non-profit blood donor centre to postpone appointments despite declaring blood shortages just one week earlier. 

New York Blood Center Enterprises announced that it had “identified suspicious activity” affecting its IT systems on on 26 January 2025.

In a statement, published on 29 January, it said: “We immediately engaged third-party cybersecurity experts to investigate and confirmed that the suspicious activity is a result of a ransomware incident.

“We took immediate steps to help contain the threat and are working diligently with these experts to restore our systems as quickly and as safely as possible. Law enforcement has been notified.”

On 1 February and 2 February 17 blood drives were cancelled as a result of the cyber attack.

The centre, which is the largest independent blood supplier in the New York City area, confirmed that although it is still accepting blood donations, “processing times may be longer than normal”.

There is no estimated timetable for fully restoring its operations.

The attack echoes the ransomware attack on NHS pathology provider Synnovis in June 2024, which led to NHS Blood and Transplant urgently calling for donations of O Positive and O Negative blood to boost stocks.

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Source: Digital Health, 3 February 2025