Cybersecurity issue leads to bare shelves at some Massachusetts grocery stores

DEDHAM, Mass. — Two major grocery store chains with locations across Massachusetts have been the target of a cybersecurity attack.

Ahold Delhaize USA, the parent company of both Stop & Shop and Hannaford, warned that some pharmacy and e-commerce operations have been affected by a cybersecurity security issue.

“Our teams are taking steps to assess and mitigate the issue,” Ahold Delhaize said in a statement posted on Stop & Shop’s website. “This includes taking some systems offline to help protect them.”

Boston 25 News visited Stop & Shop’s Dedham location on Tuesday morning and discovered empty shelves in the produce, meat, and poultry sections of the store.

A sign posted on a desolate Stop & Shop shelf reminiscent of when panicked shoppers emptied stores during the coronavirus pandemic read, “Due to IT system outages that are affecting some of our behind-the-scenes applications, product deliveries may be slightly delayed. We are working to restock our shelves as quickly as possible. Thanks for your patience.”

As of late Tuesday morning, Hannaford’s website wasn’t functioning.

“Sorry! We’re having technical issues with our servers. We’re working as quickly as possible to restore service,” Hannaford’s website stated.

Ahold Delhaize added, “Immediately upon detecting the issue, our security teams began an investigation with the assistance of external cybersecurity experts. We also notified law enforcement.”

Stop & Shop has 117 locations across Massachusetts, while Hannaford has 16 locations.

Stores impacted by the cybersecurity security issue remain open at this time.

An investigation into the cause of the incident is ongoing.

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