Dutch grocery giant Ahold Delhaize, which operates US supermarket chains Food Lion, Giant Food, and Stop & Shop, said it proactively took IT systems offline following a cyberattack, affecting most of its US and European brands.
The multinational chain originally disclosed the incident on October 12. “Ahold Delhaize is experiencing a security issue within its network,” it said at the time, adding that security teams, working to mitigate the issues, took “some” IT systems offline.
On Monday, the company confirmed that it proactively took certain IT systems, including websites and apps, offline, affecting most of its brands, and said that “malicious actions of others” caused the security issue.
“Taking systems offline to help protect them was a precautionary measure that affected most of our brands across Europe and the United States,” Frans Muller, president and CEO of Ahold Delhaize, said in a Monday statement. “The investigation to date confirms this was the right decision.”
At this time, all of the physical stores remain open, and the investigation hasn’t uncovered any evidence to suggest the miscreants stole any “sensitive customer, associate, or partner data,” the disclosure said.
The company last week notified the Dutch National Cyber Security Centre about the digital intruders, and on Monday filed a report with the Dutch police, according to the statement.
Albert Heijn’s website and app are back online, and the company expects home deliveries to resume on Friday. Belgian e-commerce is fully operational, and e-commerce services at Ahold Delhaize’s American brands (Food Lion, Giant Food, Martin’s, Hannaford, and Stop & Shop) are expected to work “in the coming days.”
The Etos and Gall & Gall websites are also up and running, along with the “majority of websites and apps” across brands serving central and southeastern Europe.
Ahold Delhaize did not immediately respond to The Register’s questions about the cyberattack, including whether it was linked to attacks on refrigeration controllers at hundreds of French supermarkets beginning October 11. The attacks reportedly pushed temperatures as high as 122°F (50°C), spoiling food and causing fires at some locations.
This latest cyberattack is Ahold Delhaize’s second in two years. A November 2024 digital break-in disrupted brands across the organization, with some Stop & Shop stores struggling to fill prescriptions, while Food Lion employees reported delayed and missing deliveries.
INC Ransom claimed responsibility for the attack at the time and leaked some documents reportedly taken from the retailer’s systems.
Ahold Delhaize ultimately determined more than 2.2 million people’s data – including personal, financial, and health details – had been compromised. ®
