Albert Heijn and sister chains abroad hit by likely cyberattack

Albert Heijn, the Netherlands' largest supermarket chain, is experiencing significant disruptions following a likely cyberattack. Cybersecurity experts believe malicious individuals may have infiltrated the company's IT systems, causing the chain's systems to go offline. The outage began on Sunday afternoon and has left empty shelves in Albert Heijn's stores.

The company and its parent organization, Ahold Delhaize, have kept their systems offline since then and have not provided a clear timeline for when services will be restored.

Joey Fennis, a cybersecurity expert, stated that a major organization like Albert Heijn wouldn't take such drastic measures lightly. Furthermore, Fennis suggested that attackers could have accessed or stolen sensitive data during the breach. Pim Takkenberg, another expert, noted that the duration of the outage suggests someone malicious was likely present in the system. Eward Driehuis proposed that the chain may have identified a weakness they couldn't fix quickly and shut down the systems as a precaution.

Albert Heijn is currently investigating the incident and has not disclosed when the services will be back online. The company operates six distribution centers in the Netherlands, and CEO Margaret Versteden-van Duijn confirmed that some of them have stopped working entirely. However, she did not specify which centers. Suppliers have been instructed to deliver only to the Zaandam center, which remains operational. Albert Heijn has not confirmed this information.

According to an email to suppliers, fresh produce will be the most difficult to find, while frozen goods, bread, and long-life products should remain more widely available. Versteden-van Duijn warned that the situation could worsen as the outage persists, leading to empty shelves in different stores. The Belgian branch of Ahold Delhaize, which includes Delhaize supermarkets, has also reported IT problems.

Albert Heijn's stores in Belgium, supplied from the Tilburg distribution center, may face shortages of certain products, though the impact is reportedly limited so far.

In the United States, the websites of all five Ahold Delhaize supermarket chains, including Stop & Shop and Food Lion, were down on Monday, along with their online ordering and delivery services. The incident occurred during a separate cyberattack on several French supermarkets, where hackers forced refrigeration systems to defrost, leading to the disposal of fresh and frozen food.

The Paris prosecutor's office has launched an investigation into the French incident. Although the Paris prosecutor's office is still investigating, an Ahold Delhaize spokesperson said there was no reason to believe the two incidents were connected.