Grocery giant Ahold Delhaize confirms cyberattack forced US and European systems offline

Dutch grocery giant Ahold Delhaize confirmed on Monday that a cyberattack had forced its US and European IT systems offline, affecting most of its brands. The company took this precautionary measure to protect its systems, which included websites and apps, impacting most of its European and US operations. Ahold Delhaize's president and CEO, Frans Muller, stated that the security breach was caused by malicious actions and that the company had taken the decision to shut down the systems for safety purposes.

No evidence has been found suggesting that the intruders stole any sensitive data, such as customer, associate, or partner information. The company reported the incident to the Dutch National Cyber Security Centre and filed a police report. Most of Ahold Delhaize's physical stores remain open, and investigations are ongoing. E-commerce services for American brands, including Food Lion, Giant Food, Martin’s, Hannaford, and Stop & Shop, are expected to resume in the coming days.

The Etos and Gall & Gall websites are also back online, as is the majority of the websites and apps across the company's European brands. This is the second cyberattack on Ahold Delhaize within two years, with the first incident in November 2024 disrupting various brands, causing issues such as delayed prescriptions at Stop & Shop stores and delayed deliveries at Food Lion.

The attackers were identified as Ransom, and they claimed responsibility for the attack, leaking some documents taken from the retailer's systems. Over 2.2 million people's personal, financial, and health data were reportedly compromised in the earlier breach.