Hannaford Website Goes Dark After Parent Company Cyber Incident

Hannaford's website was offline on the afternoon of Oct. 13 after the supermarket chain's owner disclosed a cybersecurity problem in its computer network, the Bangor Daily News reported.

Ahold Delhaize, the Dutch holding company that owns the Hannaford chain, said on Oct. 12 that it was dealing with a security issue and that staff were working to evaluate and contain it. The company said it had shut down certain systems as a precaution and that its supermarkets were still open and serving shoppers.

A notice on Hannaford.com on Oct. 13 told customers that stores were operating during normal hours while the company worked to bring online service back. Shoppers whose orders through the website or the Hannaford mobile app were not filled will get their money back, according to the message.

Ahold Delhaize said on Oct. 13 that it had found no indication that data belonging to customers or workers was taken.

The company's other U.S. chains — Food Lion, Stop & Shop and Giant Foods — posted similar outage messages on their websites on Oct. 13.

Separately, large grocery chains in Europe reported cyberattacks that left refrigeration equipment overheating at hundreds of French stores, the Associated Press reported.

This story was first reported by Bangor Daily News.