Ahold Delhaize said it filed a report with Dutch police on Oct. 19 after its investigation identified malicious activity, as precautionary shutdowns continued to interrupt online services in Europe and the United States.
The food retailer said it took some systems offline, including websites and apps, to protect them after detecting suspicious activity in its IT infrastructure. That decision disrupted services at most of its brands, to varying degrees. All its stores remained open.
Albert Heijn, the group’s Dutch supermarket chain, canceled all online grocery orders scheduled for delivery through Oct. 22. By Oct. 19, Albert Heijn’s website and Mijn AH App were accessible, but customers still could not place new grocery orders.
Albert Heijn said its cybersecurity incident began on the afternoon of Oct. 11. Ahold Delhaize disclosed a network security issue on Oct. 12 and said it had taken some systems offline.
Ahold Delhaize said it notified the Dutch National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) within 24 hours of discovering the activity. Dutch police said on Oct. 14 that no criminal investigation was underway at that point and that they had invited the company to file a report.
The company said its investigation continues and that it has found no evidence so far that sensitive customer, associate or partner data was taken. Belgian e-commerce is operating again, and Ahold Delhaize expects U.S. online services to recover in the coming days.
Albert Heijn expects home deliveries to resume in stages from Oct. 23.
