Food Lion app and website return after nine days offline
Food Lion's website and app are working again after nine days offline, WRAL reported. The grocer took them down after what it called a cybersecurity incident. Sister chain Hannaford was still offline on Monday, and its stores stayed open during the outage.
Food Lion's website and mobile app are back online after being down for nine days, WRAL reported Tuesday. The grocery chain had pulled both after what it called a cybersecurity incident, and it confirmed the incident in a notice on its app.
A Food Lion spokesperson said the website and app were taken down on Sunday, October 11, because of a network issue, according to WRAL. Customers whose online orders were affected will get refunds, the station reported. Shoppers in the Shop & Earn rewards program can keep earning and spending rewards as normal.
Food Lion's parent company, Dutch grocer Ahold Delhaize, also owns Hannaford, Stop & Shop and Giant in the United States. As of Monday, Hannaford's website, app and To Go pickup and delivery service were still offline, the Portland Press Herald reported. Its stores stayed open, and customers could still order through Instacart, DoorDash and Uber Eats.
"This is related to a security issue within the network of our parent company, Ahold Delhaize," Hannaford spokesperson Caitlin Cortelyou said, according to the Press Herald. Hannaford runs 188 stores across the Northeast, including 68 in Maine, and is Maine's second-largest employer, the paper said.
The outage began the same day hackers disrupted refrigeration systems at about 700 supermarkets in France, the Press Herald reported, citing The Associated Press. Ahold Delhaize took "some systems offline" that day as a precaution. The company has not said the two events are connected, and Cortelyou said Hannaford has no reason to believe they are.
On Monday, Ahold Delhaize said its European stores were back online and that online shopping at its US stores is "expected to come back in the coming days," according to the Press Herald. The company said it had no evidence that sensitive customer, employee or partner data was taken.
NewsHabit has not seen a report confirming that Hannaford's website and app are back.
What we know: Food Lion's website and app are back after nine days, and affected orders will be refunded.
What we don't: When Hannaford's online services will return, and what caused the security incident.
Where outlets agree WRAL and the Portland Press Herald both report that Ahold Delhaize brands took their websites and apps offline after a cybersecurity problem while stores stayed open.
Where they differ WRAL quotes Food Lion saying its site and app came down on Sunday, October 11, while the Portland Press Herald says Ahold Delhaize took systems offline on October 12, the day of the attacks in France.