Ahold Delhaize, one of the world’s largest food retail groups, confirmed on October 12, 2026 that it is dealing with “a security issue within its network” and has taken some systems offline to protect them. The company, which owns Albert Heijn, Delhaize, Food Lion, Stop & Shop, Giant Food and Hannaford among other brands, says its stores are open and serving customers. It has not said what kind of attack this is, whether data was taken, or when services will return.
The disruption is visible on both sides of the Atlantic. According to BleepingComputer, Stop & Shop employees have had trouble reaching their schedules and pay stubs, and customers could not use the websites, apps and customer service of Albert Heijn, Etos and Gall & Gall in the Netherlands or Delhaize in Belgium. NOS reports that Albert Heijn’s online deliveries are not running, electronic shelf labels are showing last week’s promotional prices, and the loyalty system is down. An internal Food Lion memo described the problem as an IT outage that left stores unable to shop, stage or hand off online orders. A spokesperson did not tell BleepingComputer whether corporate and store systems were both affected or whether any devices were encrypted. This is not the group’s first major incident: a November 2024 ransomware attack, claimed by INC Ransom, exposed personal, financial and health data of more than 2.2 million people in its U.S. business.