Qilin ransomware attack prompts blood shortage at London hospitals

BleepingComputer reports that blood shortages across London hospitals following the Qilin ransomware attack against pathology provider Synnovis last week have prompted England's NHS Blood and Transplant to call for O-type blood donations.

Qilin's attack against Synnovis has disrupted blood type matching systems — the restoration timeline of which remains uncertain — leading to impacted hospitals providing O-positive and O-negative types to patients immediately requiring blood transfusions and eventually resulting in the shortfall for both blood types, according to NHSBT.

"For surgeries and procedures requiring blood to take place, hospitals need to use O type blood as this is safe to use for all patients and blood has a shelf life of 35 days, so stocks need to be continually replenished. That means more units of these types of blood than usual will be required over the coming weeks to support the wider efforts of frontline staff to keep services running safely for local patients," NHSBT said in a statement.