Albert Heijn restarts grocery deliveries nearly two weeks after cyberattack

Nearly two weeks after a cyberattack on Ahold Delhaize nearly hamstrung Albert Heijn, the Dutch supermarket chain started grocery deliveries again on Friday. The incident made online shopping and delivery impossible. Much of the food that couldn’t be delivered ended up at Dutch food banks.

On Sunday, October 12, Ahold Delhaize detected suspicious activity within its IT systems. As a precaution, it took several systems offline. This affected subsidiaries Albert Heijn, Gall & Gall, and Etos in the Netherlands. Their websites and apps went down.

The takedown also affected distribution for Albert Heijn, resulting in empty shelves. Electronic price tags in stores showed the wrong prices, and the supermarket’s BONUS card loyalty program did not work.

After nearly two weeks and an estimated €120 million to €150 million in damages, Albert Heijn is now almost back to normal. The site and app are working again, grocery deliveries have restarted, and the replenishment of supermarkets is being scaled back up, step by step. Customers who placed orders that were never delivered will receive a €10 shopping credit as compensation.

Etos and Gall & Gall are also back up and running.

Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for the cyber attack on Ahold Delhaize. After over a week of carefully not calling it a cyberattack, the company has filed a report with the police, who are investigating. According to Ahold Delhaize, there is currently no evidence that sensitive customer, employee, or partner data has been accessed or stolen.