UK Blood Stocks Drop After Ransomware Hack

The U.K. National Health Service is urging hospitals across the country to limit the use of rare O-negative type blood after a ransomware attack on a British laboratory service provider crippled blood donations across the country.

See Also: NHS Ransomware Attack: Healthcare Industry Infrastructures Are Critical

The NHS Blood and Transplant service on Thursday issued an amber alert to hospitals stating that the combination of the cyberattack and reduced collections “has caused stocks of blood to drop to unprecedentedly low levels.”

London’s King’s College Hospital and Guy’s and St Thomas hospitals, which have a pathology partnership with Synnovis, are among NHS trusts severely affected in the aftermath of the hack (see: UK Vendor’s Attack Disrupts Care at London NHS Hospitals).

The NHS Blood and Transplant said on Thursday that nearly 12,000 appointments continue to remain unfilled following the cyberattack.

O-negative blood is known as the universal blood type since it’s safe for transfusion to patients of any blood type. This makes it valuable for first responders who may not know the blood type of emergency patients. “Air ambulances and emergency response vehicles carry O-negative supplies. Just 8% of the population have type O Negative but it makes up for around 16% of hospital orders,” the NHS said.

Russian-speaking ransomware group Qilin claimed responsibility for the attack. The group leaked nearly 4 gigabytes of stolen Synnovis and NHS data in late June after the medical laboratory did not pay a ransom demand of $50 million (see: Qilin Ransomware Group Leaks NHS Data).

The attack affected Synnovis’ ability to process samples as well as transmit test results, forcing the organization to resort to paper processing for its daily operations. The attack caused the delay of nearly 6,199 acute outpatients and 1,491 elective procedures and affected the treatment of cancer patients

Synnovis in its latest update on July 1 said the hack affected all its IT systems and continues to cause a significant reduction in the firm’s capacity to process samples.

“Full restoration of systems will take some time however, and we are working closely with our NHS partners and suppliers to deliver each phase in a safe and secure manner,” the company said.

NHS and Synnovis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.