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Ahold Delhaize confirmed a security issue in its network on October 12, 2026, and said it took some systems offline as a precaution. The company said its stores remained open and serving customers. Contemporaneous reporting described website outages at five U.S. grocery banners and three Dutch retail brands, as well as disruption affecting Dutch distribution and services and Belgian Delhaize. The company had not disclosed the cause, the incident’s full scope, whether customer data was exposed, or when affected systems would be restored.
What Ahold Delhaize confirmed
In a statement issued October 12 from Zaandam, Netherlands, Ahold Delhaize said: “Ahold Delhaize is experiencing a security issue within its network. Our teams are taking steps to assess and mitigate the issue. This includes taking some systems offline to help protect them. At this time, our stores are open and serving customers.” The company also said protecting its infrastructure was a priority. Ahold Delhaize’s statement did not name a speaker or provide technical details.
The statement confirms a network security issue and precautionary shutdowns; it does not establish a particular attack method or identify an attacker. Although some news coverage called the event a cyberattack, the company’s public wording was more limited. The distinction matters: the specific cause and nature of the incident had not been publicly explained as of October 13, 2026.
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Which grocery brands and services were affected?
Reports published October 12 described outages across several Ahold Delhaize markets. These are reported disruptions, not a company-published inventory of every affected location or service.
| Market | Brands or services reported affected | What was reported |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Hannaford, Stop & Shop, Giant Food, Food Lion, and The Giant Company | Cybersecurity Dive reported that the five banner websites were down Monday morning. It did not establish that every store or in-store service was affected. Cybersecurity Dive, October 12, 2026 |
| Netherlands | Albert Heijn, Etos, and Gall & Gall | Their websites were reported down. NL Times also described disruption to Albert Heijn online shopping, loyalty services, and distribution centers. NL Times, October 12, 2026 |
| Belgium | Delhaize | NL Times reported IT disruption at the Belgian chain; the company’s statement did not detail the Belgian impact. |
Cybersecurity Dive reported that Ahold Delhaize had no restoration timeline at the time of its October 12 coverage. It also noted that the company had not described whether store operations were affected beyond saying stores remained open. The number of stores affected was not reliably established in the available reporting.
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Are stores open, and what might shoppers notice?
Ahold Delhaize said its stores were open and serving customers on October 12. That assurance does not mean every service worked normally at every location: a physical store can remain open while its website, online ordering, loyalty tools, or distribution systems are disrupted.
In the Netherlands, NL Times reported interruptions at Albert Heijn distribution centers and possible variation in product availability from store to store. Albert Heijn said fresh items might be harder to find than frozen, bread, and long-life products. This was a dated update, not a statement about current stock; availability can change by store and over time. NL Times’ report also described online shopping and loyalty services as unavailable.
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For U.S. and Belgian shoppers, the cited reporting established website outages and reported IT disruption, respectively; it did not provide a dependable, store-by-store account of checkout, ordering, delivery, or inventory. Check the relevant retailer’s current service notices or contact a local store before making a trip or relying on an online order.
What is still unknown about the incident?
As of October 13, 2026, the company had not publicly identified the attack method or actor, confirmed ransomware, described the complete scope, or announced a restoration schedule. The reviewed coverage also did not establish that customer data was stolen in this incident. It would be inaccurate to treat the separate 2024 Ahold Delhaize ransomware incident as proof of data exposure now.
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SecurityWeek reported that more than 2.2 million individuals were affected by the separate 2024 incident, with regulatory notifications reported in June 2025. That figure belongs to the earlier event only and says nothing about the number of people affected, if any, by the October 2026 network issue. SecurityWeek’s October 13, 2026 report likewise described the current incident’s scope as unclear.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is this connected to the French supermarket refrigeration attack?
No connection had been established in the reporting available by October 13. A separate incident in France involved supermarket refrigeration-control systems; Ahold Delhaize’s announcement concerned a security issue within its corporate network. They are distinct incidents, with different reported targets and effects. Help Net Security’s October 12 report covered the French case, while SecurityWeek said the relationship between the incidents remained unclear.
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