A Grocery Giant Shut Down Its Websites After a Cyberattack. The Stores Are Still Open

According to Progressive Grocer, websites for U.S. stores like Food Lion, The Giant Co., Giant Food, Hannaford, and Stop & Shop were all down, as well as international chains such as Albert Heijn. Physical locations owned by Ahold Delhaize stores remained open and operational.   

“Protecting our infrastructure in the best interest of our customers, associates and partners is a top priority,” Ahold Delhaize said in a release. “We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused customers and partners.” 

The Dutch supermarket company did not specify the severity of the cybersecurity breach nor its potential origins. The company stated it was working with relevant internal teams and external cybersecurity experts to get its sites back to normal. Additionally, the company has engaged with appropriate authorities and stakeholders as necessary. 

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“As the investigation is ongoing, we are not sharing further details that could compromise security measures or interfere with our response efforts,” Ahold Delhaize said in its release. “Although our investigation is still ongoing, we have no evidence at this moment that customer and associate data was taken in this cybersecurity incident.” 

According to WCVB, Stop & Shop said Monday that all stores, pharmacies, and gas stations would be open during normal hours. However, online services were not available. This issue affected other stores in the network, like Hannaford, which has its website, mobile app, and Hannaford To Go pickup and delivery services down, but kept physical stores open. 

Digital shutdown

The breach, which started Monday, continued into Tuesday and Wednesday as well. Ahold Delhaize has not clarified further when websites will be fully up and running.