Stop & Shop, Hannaford, Giant and Food Lion Sites Go Dark After a Network Security Issue: The Briefing
Grocery giant Ahold Delhaize took systems offline after a security issue in its network, knocking out websites, apps and online ordering for its U.S. chains while stores stayed open. What is confirmed, what isn’t, and the lessons for any business.
The short version
Ahold Delhaize, the Netherlands-based parent of five U.S. grocery chains, says it is dealing with a “security issue” inside its network and has taken some systems offline to protect them. Its stores remain open, but on Monday the websites and apps of Stop & Shop, Hannaford, Giant Food, The Giant Company and Food Lion were down, and online ordering and delivery were suspended.
This briefing is built mainly on Madyline Swearing’s report in The Boston Globe, with additional detail from BleepingComputer and Supermarket News.
What shoppers are seeing
- Maintenance pages in place of the chains’ websites and apps, saying stores, pharmacies and fuel stations are operating normally.
- Unfulfilled orders placed online or through the apps will be refunded, according to those messages.
- Hannaford says its website, app and To Go pickup and delivery service are affected.
- Giant Food pointed customers to DoorDash, Uber Eats and Instacart for orders in the meantime.
- Loyalty-based personal discounts and app savings have been suspended, Supermarket News reports, citing DutchNews.nl.
What employees are seeing
BleepingComputer reports that Stop & Shop workers have had trouble reaching their schedules and pay stubs, and that an internal Food Lion memo described an IT outage that might leave stores unable to shop, stage or hand off orders.
What has been confirmed
- The company found a security issue within its network, is assessing and mitigating it, and took some systems offline as a precaution.
- A company spokesperson told the Globe that in-store operations such as refrigeration and sales systems are unaffected.
- European brands are hit too, including Albert Heijn, Delhaize, Etos, Gall & Gall and bol.
What has not
- What caused the issue, or whether it is ransomware. Asked whether any devices were encrypted, a spokesperson pointed BleepingComputer back to the company’s statement.
- Whether customer or employee data was taken.
- Whether it is connected to the separate weekend attack that warmed fridges in French supermarkets. SecurityWeek says that is unclear, and nothing so far ties the two together.
- When the websites and apps will return.
Why this one matters
Ahold Delhaize runs more than 9,400 stores across Europe, the United States and Indonesia and employs nearly 400,000 people, BleepingComputer notes. This is also its second major incident in under two years. In November 2024, an attack on its U.S. systems disrupted the same chains. The INC Ransom group later took credit, and personal, financial and health information belonging to more than 2.2 million people was stolen.
What this means for your company
The striking part of this story is not that systems went down. It is that the stores kept serving customers while they were down. That is the outcome every business should plan for:
- Know which systems you would switch off first, and who has authority to make that call in the middle of the night.
- Have a manual fallback for staff basics. Schedules, pay information and key contacts should be reachable even if the usual portal is offline.
- Line up a backup sales channel. Giant’s quick redirect to delivery partners is a good model. Ask what your equivalent would be.
- Prepare customer messages in advance, including how refunds will work, so you aren’t writing them under pressure.
- Expect scammers to piggyback. Publicized outages tend to attract fake refund and “account verification” messages, so remind staff and customers where official updates will come from.
Need help planning how your business keeps running when key systems have to go offline? Reach out to Layer 7 Data Solutions to discuss how we’ve helped companies similar to yours.
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