Albert Heijn’s shops are open and its checkouts work. Its distribution facilities are a special story. On Monday, CEO Margaret Versteden-van Duijn instructed NOS that work had stopped utterly at a few of them, as a result of the corporate had switched its programs off as a precaution after a cybersecurity incident.
What Ahold Delhaize Has Confirmed
The disruption started on Sunday afternoon, October 11. In a assertion printed Monday morning, Albert Heijn stated it, Etos and Gall & Gall have been coping with a cybersecurity incident and had taken quick measures to guard their IT atmosphere, together with the momentary, precautionary shutdown of a number of programs. Web sites, apps and customer support went offline. Logistics programs have been disabled, so on-line grocery orders can’t be delivered till additional discover. As of Monday night, the corporate had not stated when companies would return.
Contained in the shops, the image is patchy. Checkouts and this week’s nationwide Bonus provides work. The Mijn AH app, the private Bonus card, Koopzegels and Air Miles don’t, and digital shelf labels should present final week’s promotional costs, which may sit beneath the worth on the until. Albert Heijn has requested clients who miss private reductions to maintain their receipts so it will probably compensate them later.
The issue reaches past the Netherlands. Father or mother firm Ahold Delhaize stated it’s “experiencing a safety difficulty inside its community” and is taking some programs offline “to assist shield them,” in line with BleepingComputer. Grocery Dive reported that the web sites of all 5 U.S. banners, together with Meals Lion, Hannaford and Cease & Store, have been down Monday morning. In Belgium, Delhaize clients couldn’t place new orders for the week, VRT reported, though shops in Belgium and Luxembourg stayed open.
The Injury Sits within the Warehouse
The extra consequential element got here Monday afternoon. Versteden-van Duijn instructed NOS that work had stopped utterly in some distribution facilities as a result of “we needed to change the programs off preventively.” Albert Heijn runs six distribution facilities within the Netherlands, and she or he wouldn’t say which of them are nonetheless working. Commerce outlet Warehouse Totaal, citing RTL Z and an electronic mail despatched to suppliers, reported that solely the automated middle in Zaandam was nonetheless operating and that suppliers had been requested to ship there inside agreed time slots. Albert Heijn has not confirmed that account.
Recent meals is probably the most uncovered. Albert Heijn expects frozen items, bread and long-life merchandise to remain higher stocked than fruit and greens, and says availability will range by retailer. “After all cabinets will run empty if this lasts longer,” the CEO stated. One supply driver instructed NOS that each one drivers have been thrown out of the supply app on the identical time and couldn’t log again in.
The stoppage doubtless displays a precaution fairly than a confirmed hit on the warehouses. By the CEO’s account, the facilities stopped as a result of Albert Heijn turned its programs off, and the corporate has not stated attackers reached them. It has additionally not defined why checkouts survived whereas logistics didn’t. One studying is {that a} retailer can preserve promoting what’s already on its cabinets, whereas a distribution middle with its programs switched off can not ship something. That continues to be an inference, as a result of the corporate has not described how its programs are linked.
No Confirmed Information Breach, and No Fast Reply
Nobody has stated knowledge was stolen. Albert Heijn says defending the info of shoppers, workers and companions is its precedence, and NOS reported that the corporate can not but say whether or not outsiders entered its IT programs; the CEO stated the investigation remains to be operating. Ahold Delhaize calls the occasion a cybersecurity incident with out naming an attacker, a way or a trigger, and its spokesperson didn’t reply whether or not any gadgets have been encrypted, BleepingComputer reported. NL Instances relayed RTL’s studying that the indicators level to a cybercriminal assault. Neither firm has confirmed that.
The group’s personal historical past argues in opposition to anticipating a quick reply on knowledge. Ahold Delhaize disclosed a cyberattack on its U.S. banners in November 2024, which halted Hannaford’s on-line orders for a number of days. It confirmed in April 2025, about 5 months later, that recordsdata had been stolen, because the INC Ransom group claimed as much as 6 terabytes of information from the U.S. division. Grocery Dive reviews that the corporate later stated the incident doubtlessly uncovered delicate info of greater than 2 million folks.
Why the Shutdown Prices So A lot
Shutting programs down early carries a transparent protection. “The short-term ache of a deliberate shutdown is nearly at all times preferable to an uncontrolled one,” stated Muhammad Yahya Patel, a cybersecurity advisor at Huntress, in feedback printed by Cybernews. Marks & Spencer exhibits how giant the invoice can develop when an outage drags on. After an April ransomware assault in 2025, M&S stopped accepting on-line orders. In Could it instructed traders to count on on-line disruption by June and into July, and it put the hit at round £300 million for 2025/26 earlier than mitigation, BleepingComputer reported, including that meals gross sales additionally suffered from diminished availability. Albert Heijn has not stated it faces ransomware, and the M&S figures are a reference level solely.
Our Take: a grocer’s first-week publicity is availability. A stolen database takes months to measurement, as 2024 confirmed. A stalled distribution middle exhibits up on cabinets inside days, and the merchandise Albert Heijn flagged first, fruit and greens, are perishable and switch over shortly. Retail incident plans ought to put the restart of logistics on the middle, alongside the restoration of information.
Two solutions will resolve how this ends: whether or not anybody outdoors the corporate reached its programs, and the way lengthy a few of its distribution facilities keep shut. If 2024 is any information, the primary will take months to settle. The second will present up within the produce aisle a lot sooner.
Albert Heijn’s shops are open and its checkouts work. Its distribution facilities are a special story. On Monday, CEO Margaret Versteden-van Duijn instructed NOS that work had stopped utterly at a few of them, as a result of the corporate had switched its programs off as a precaution after a cybersecurity incident.
What Ahold Delhaize Has Confirmed
The disruption started on Sunday afternoon, October 11. In a assertion printed Monday morning, Albert Heijn stated it, Etos and Gall & Gall have been coping with a cybersecurity incident and had taken quick measures to guard their IT atmosphere, together with the momentary, precautionary shutdown of a number of programs. Web sites, apps and customer support went offline. Logistics programs have been disabled, so on-line grocery orders can’t be delivered till additional discover. As of Monday night, the corporate had not stated when companies would return.
Contained in the shops, the image is patchy. Checkouts and this week’s nationwide Bonus provides work. The Mijn AH app, the private Bonus card, Koopzegels and Air Miles don’t, and digital shelf labels should present final week’s promotional costs, which may sit beneath the worth on the until. Albert Heijn has requested clients who miss private reductions to maintain their receipts so it will probably compensate them later.
The issue reaches past the Netherlands. Father or mother firm Ahold Delhaize stated it’s “experiencing a safety difficulty inside its community” and is taking some programs offline “to assist shield them,” in line with BleepingComputer. Grocery Dive reported that the web sites of all 5 U.S. banners, together with Meals Lion, Hannaford and Cease & Store, have been down Monday morning. In Belgium, Delhaize clients couldn’t place new orders for the week, VRT reported, though shops in Belgium and Luxembourg stayed open.
The Injury Sits within the Warehouse
The extra consequential element got here Monday afternoon. Versteden-van Duijn instructed NOS that work had stopped utterly in some distribution facilities as a result of “we needed to change the programs off preventively.” Albert Heijn runs six distribution facilities within the Netherlands, and she or he wouldn’t say which of them are nonetheless working. Commerce outlet Warehouse Totaal, citing RTL Z and an electronic mail despatched to suppliers, reported that solely the automated middle in Zaandam was nonetheless operating and that suppliers had been requested to ship there inside agreed time slots. Albert Heijn has not confirmed that account.
Recent meals is probably the most uncovered. Albert Heijn expects frozen items, bread and long-life merchandise to remain higher stocked than fruit and greens, and says availability will range by retailer. “After all cabinets will run empty if this lasts longer,” the CEO stated. One supply driver instructed NOS that each one drivers have been thrown out of the supply app on the identical time and couldn’t log again in.
The stoppage doubtless displays a precaution fairly than a confirmed hit on the warehouses. By the CEO’s account, the facilities stopped as a result of Albert Heijn turned its programs off, and the corporate has not stated attackers reached them. It has additionally not defined why checkouts survived whereas logistics didn’t. One studying is {that a} retailer can preserve promoting what’s already on its cabinets, whereas a distribution middle with its programs switched off can not ship something. That continues to be an inference, as a result of the corporate has not described how its programs are linked.
No Confirmed Information Breach, and No Fast Reply
Nobody has stated knowledge was stolen. Albert Heijn says defending the info of shoppers, workers and companions is its precedence, and NOS reported that the corporate can not but say whether or not outsiders entered its IT programs; the CEO stated the investigation remains to be operating. Ahold Delhaize calls the occasion a cybersecurity incident with out naming an attacker, a way or a trigger, and its spokesperson didn’t reply whether or not any gadgets have been encrypted, BleepingComputer reported. NL Instances relayed RTL’s studying that the indicators level to a cybercriminal assault. Neither firm has confirmed that.
The group’s personal historical past argues in opposition to anticipating a quick reply on knowledge. Ahold Delhaize disclosed a cyberattack on its U.S. banners in November 2024, which halted Hannaford’s on-line orders for a number of days. It confirmed in April 2025, about 5 months later, that recordsdata had been stolen, because the INC Ransom group claimed as much as 6 terabytes of information from the U.S. division. Grocery Dive reviews that the corporate later stated the incident doubtlessly uncovered delicate info of greater than 2 million folks.
Why the Shutdown Prices So A lot
Shutting programs down early carries a transparent protection. “The short-term ache of a deliberate shutdown is nearly at all times preferable to an uncontrolled one,” stated Muhammad Yahya Patel, a cybersecurity advisor at Huntress, in feedback printed by Cybernews. Marks & Spencer exhibits how giant the invoice can develop when an outage drags on. After an April ransomware assault in 2025, M&S stopped accepting on-line orders. In Could it instructed traders to count on on-line disruption by June and into July, and it put the hit at round £300 million for 2025/26 earlier than mitigation, BleepingComputer reported, including that meals gross sales additionally suffered from diminished availability. Albert Heijn has not stated it faces ransomware, and the M&S figures are a reference level solely.
Our Take: a grocer’s first-week publicity is availability. A stolen database takes months to measurement, as 2024 confirmed. A stalled distribution middle exhibits up on cabinets inside days, and the merchandise Albert Heijn flagged first, fruit and greens, are perishable and switch over shortly. Retail incident plans ought to put the restart of logistics on the middle, alongside the restoration of information.
Two solutions will resolve how this ends: whether or not anybody outdoors the corporate reached its programs, and the way lengthy a few of its distribution facilities keep shut. If 2024 is any information, the primary will take months to settle. The second will present up within the produce aisle a lot sooner.
