Ahold Delhaize Takes Systems Offline After Cybersecurity Incident

Retail giant Ahold Delhaize, one of the world’s largest food retail chains, has acknowledged that it took some systems offline following a cybersecurity incident.

The multinational retailer and wholesaler operates more than 9,400 local stores across Europe, the United States and Indonesia. It employs approximately 400,000 people and serves around 60 million customers each week through physical stores and online platforms.

Ahold Delhaize reported annual net sales of more than $104 billion in 2024. Its brands include Delhaize, Maxi, Mega Image, Albert, Bol, Alpha Beta, Etos, Gall & Gall and Profi in Europe, as well as Food Lion, Stop & Shop, Giant Food and Hannaford in the United States.

Ahold Delhaize says stores remain open

In a brief press release, the company said it is working to mitigate the incident and that its stores remain open to customers.

“Ahold Delhaize is experiencing a security issue within our network. Our team is taking steps to assess and mitigate the issue, including taking some systems offline to protect them. At this time, our stores are open and serving customers,” the company said.

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

Employees and customers report service disruptions

Employees at the Stop & Shop regional supermarket chain in the United States reported being unable to access work schedules and payslips.

Customers also reported disruptions affecting the websites, apps and customer service platforms of Albert Heijn, Etos and Gall & Gall in the Netherlands, as well as Delhaize in Belgium, according to Dutch media reports.

According to an internal memo shared by Food Lion employees in the United States, the company classified the incident as an IT outage and warned that “in-store shopping, order processing, and delivery may not be possible.”

Ahold Delhaize redirected BleepingComputer to its public statement when asked whether the incident affected corporate and store systems, whether the disruption extended across its global operations, and whether devices were encrypted during the attack.

Second major cybersecurity incident in recent years

This is the second major cybersecurity incident to affect Ahold Delhaize in recent years. In an attack disclosed in November 2024, the ransomware group INC Ransom stole the personal, financial and health information of more than 2.2 million people. The incident affected the company’s systems in the United States.

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