Major blood supply threat after Russian cyber attack with NHS calling for rare universal donors to come forward to boost emergency supplies

Hospitals in London are calling for blood donors after a Russian cyber attack compromised pathology services and interfered with operations and procedures. The National Health Service Blood and Transplant is encouraging O-negative and O-positive donors in particular, as these types can be given to the widest range of patients. The Qilin, a professional Russian hacking gang, targeted Synnovis, the firm that runs a critical analysis and blood testing system. Due to the attack, hospitals have had to manually match blood, a slower and more complicated system than the one that had automated this process.