Retail giant Ahold Delhaize takes systems offline after cyberattack
Ahold Delhaize took systems offline after a cyberattack, disrupting apps and scheduling at US and European grocery chains.
Ahold Delhaize, which operates more than 9,400 stores and reported over $104 billion in 2024 net sales, said a network security incident forced it to take some systems offline while stores stayed open. Stop & Shop employees reported trouble reaching schedules and pay stubs, and customers could not use websites and apps for Albert Heijn, Etos, and Gall & Gall in the Netherlands and Delhaize in Belgium. Food Lion told US stores they might be unable to shop, stage, or hand off orders. The company did not confirm encryption; a November 2024 INC Ransom attack previously exposed data on more than 2.2 million people.
- Ahold Delhaize took some network systems offline after a security incident.
- Stop & Shop staff lost access to schedules and pay stubs.
- Dutch and Belgian grocery apps and websites were disrupted.
- Encryption was not confirmed; a 2024 INC Ransom breach hit 2.2 million people.
Full article441 words · extracted from bleepingcomputer.com · click to collapse
Retail giant Ahold Delhaize, one of the world's largest food retail chains, confirmed today that it was forced to take some systems offline after a "cybersecurity incident."
As a wholesale company and multinational retailer, Ahold Delhaize operates more than 9,400 local stores across Europe, the United States, and Indonesia, employs nearly 400,000 people, and serves around 60 million customers each week through physical retail locations and online.
Ahold Delhaize reported yearly net sales of over $104 billion in 2024, and it owns a wide range of brands, including Delhaize, Maxi, Mega Image, Albert, bol, Alfa Beta, Etos, Gall & Gall, and Profi in Europe, and Food Lion, Stop & Shop, Giant Food, and Hannaford in the American market.
In a succinct press release published earlier today, the company added that it's working to mitigate the incident and that its stores are open to customers.
"Ahold Delhaize is experiencing a security issue within its network. Our teams are taking steps to assess and mitigate the issue. This includes taking some systems offline to help protect them. At this time, our stores are open and serving customers," it said.
"Protecting our infrastructure in the best interest of our customers, associates and partners is a top priority. We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused customers and partners."
However, employees at the Stop & Shop American regional supermarket chain are having trouble accessing their schedules and pay stubs, while customers have been unable to use websites, apps, and customer service platforms at Albert Heijn, Etos, and Gall & Gall stores in the Netherlands, and Delhaize in Belgium.
According to an internal memo shared by Food Lion employees in the United States, the company flagged the incident as an IT outage and told them their "store may be unable to shop, stage, or hand off orders."
An Ahold Delhaize spokesperson was not immediately available for comment when BleepingComputer reached out to ask whether the incident affected both corporate and store systems, if disruptions affected stores worldwide, and if any devices were encrypted during the attack.
This is the second major cybersecurity incident to affect Ahold Delhaize in recent years, after the personal, financial, and health information of over 2.2 million individuals was stolen in a November 2024 ransomware attack that impacted the company's U.S. systems, claimed by the ransomware group INC Ransom.
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