Ace Hardware said it detected a cybersecurity incident on October 29, 2023, that disrupted corporate systems used for ordering, warehouse work, shipments, and customer support. Contemporary reports said stores could remain open and continue taking payments, but online orders were suspended. The available reports do not establish the attack type, a complete recovery date, or the full relationship between the operational outage and a later data-security notice.
What happened when Ace Hardware was hacked?
In a retailer notice reproduced in an October 30, 2023, r/sysadmin post, Ace President and CEO John Venhuizen said the company had detected a cybersecurity incident on Sunday morning, October 29. The notice said most IT systems were affected, shipments were disrupted, and retailers should hold additional orders while the company investigated. Scheduled deliveries were not expected to occur on October 30.
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The notice named ACENET, warehouse-management systems, ARMA, Hot Sheets, invoices, Ace Rewards, and the Care Center phone system among the affected systems. It also described work with technical forensic experts and cautioned that details were changing quickly. Because the notice is reproduced in a retailer discussion rather than linked from a current Ace incident page, its wording should be understood as a contemporaneous account.
Which operations were affected, and what could stores still do?
The reported disruption centered on Ace’s corporate and distribution workflows: placing and processing orders, managing warehouse activity, and getting shipments out. The distinction matters: reports described corporate systems and fulfillment as disrupted, while stores were reportedly advised they could stay open.
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- We are your local hardware store and we are a part of your community.
- Ace Hardware has over 5,000 stores around the world with the majority of those stores independently owned and operated by local entrepreneurs.
- Founded in 1924 by a small group of Chicago hardware store owners, Ace changed the retail landscape by allowing individual stores to purchase merchandise in bulk to save money and buy at the lowest possible price.
- Redemption: Online and In-Store
- No returns and no refunds on gift cards.
| Area | What contemporary reports said |
|---|---|
| Corporate and distribution systems | ACENET and other named systems were affected; ordering, warehouse work, and shipments were disrupted, according to the reproduced retailer notice and reporting by BleepingComputer. |
| Online store | Customers could browse products but could not place online orders, according to BleepingComputer and SecurityWeek. SecurityWeek reported on November 3 that online ordering remained suspended and customers were directed to physical stores. |
| Physical stores and payments | SecurityWeek and BleepingComputer reported, based on circulated notices, that stores could remain open and point-of-sale and credit-card processing were unaffected. This is a report about the outage at that time, not a guarantee covering every location or service. |
What had been restored by November 2?
BleepingComputer reported figures from a November 2 retailer communication attributed to Venhuizen. It said Ace’s environment included 1,400 servers and networked devices, of which 1,202 were affected. The communication identified 196 servers that needed restoration for receiving, picking, and shipping to resume. As of 5:31 a.m. on November 2, 51% of those 196 servers had been restored and were being certified by Ace IT.
Those figures are a dated progress snapshot reported from a CEO communication to retailers, not a final forensic accounting or confirmation that all operations had recovered. The available coverage establishes that online orders remained suspended as of November 3; it does not establish a complete recovery date or current system status.
Rank #2
- We are your local hardware store and we are a part of your community.
- Ace Hardware has over 5,000 stores around the world with the majority of those stores independently owned and operated by local entrepreneurs.
- Founded in 1924 by a small group of Chicago hardware store owners, Ace changed the retail landscape by allowing individual stores to purchase merchandise in bulk to save money and buy at the lowest possible price.
- Redemption: Online and In-Store
- No returns and no refunds on gift cards.
What was known about the attack and customer information?
As of November 3, 2023, SecurityWeek reported that Ace had not disclosed the attack type or whether customer information may have been compromised. The cited reporting does not establish ransomware, identify an attacker, or show that customer data was taken.
A separate Ace data-security notice dated April 1, 2024 said the company discovered a data-security incident on October 29, 2023. Its investigation determined that information on the corporate network may have been accessed between October 27 and October 29. The notice said local systems at Ace stores were not involved and that third-party specialists had been engaged. This notice describes potential access to corporate-network information; it does not, by itself, explain every operational effect of the outage.
Rank #3
- We are your local hardware store and we are a part of your community.
- Ace Hardware has over 5,000 stores around the world with the majority of those stores independently owned and operated by local entrepreneurs.
- Redemption: In-Store and Online
- No returns and no refunds on gift cards.
What security warnings did Ace send retailers?
During recovery, Ace warned retailers about opportunistic impersonation attempts: phishing emails seeking to redirect payments and calls from people posing as Epicor representatives to obtain network credentials. Those warnings concern scams reported during the incident response. The available sources do not establish that either tactic was the original attack vector.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- We are your local hardware store and we are a part of your community.
- Ace Hardware has over 5,000 stores around the world with the majority of those stores independently owned and operated by local entrepreneurs.
- Redemption: In-Store and Online
- No returns and no refunds on gift cards.
Rank #4
- We are your local hardware store and we are a part of your community.
- Ace Hardware has over 5,000 stores around the world with the majority of those stores independently owned and operated by local entrepreneurs.
- Redemption: In-Store and Online
- No returns and no refunds on gift cards.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
