Ahold Delhaize USA recently detected a cybersecurity issue within its US network. AD-USA is headquartered in Zaandam, The Netherlands.

The company’s holdings in this country include some of the best known supermarkets, including Stop & Shop, Food Lion, The Giant Company, and Hannaford. The cyberattack reportedly impacted operations across nearly 2,000 stores in the US.

A 61,000-square-foot Stop & Shop has been the southern anchor store of Sand Hill Plaza since the plaza’s opening in November 1990.

One of the world’s largest food retail groups, Ahold Delhaize issued a statement on November 8 concerning the security breach.

“Immediate upon detecting the issue, our security teams began an investigation with the assistance of external cybersecurity experts. We also notified law enforcement,” the statement noted.

“Our teams are taking steps to assess and mitigate the issue. This includes taking some systems offline to help protect them. This issue and subsequent mitigating actions have affected certain Ahold Delhaize USA brands and services including a number of pharmacies and certain e-commerce operations.

“Each of Ahold Delhaize USA’s brands’ stores are open and serving customers. We will continue to take actions to further protect our systems. The security of our customers, associates and partners is a top priority.

“We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused customers and partners,” the statement concluded.

The Stop & Shop Company did not issue its own statement.

Supermarket News reported some Stop & Shop stores had run low on products because the issue disrupted deliveries, and pharmacies could not process debit and gift cards.

The National CIO Review said some stores also reported ongoing IT disruptions and some stores resorting to using personal hotspots to maintain operations. The disruptions have impacted customer access to both in-store and online services.

Stop & Shop is Connecticut’s largest grocery chain. Even with five locations closed last month, there are still 81 stores in the state and 350 total throughout New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

The announcement of the cybersecurity breach arrived one day after Ahold Delhaize reported disappointing third-quarter earnings. In the US, Ahold net sales totaled $14.49 billion, a year-over-year decrease of 0.1% at constant exchange rates and a drop of one % at actual exchange rates.

Comparable sales, excluding gasoline, rose by 1.2% year-over-year.

Frans Muller, president and CEO of Ahold Delhaize, stated during the earnings call that the Stop & Shop closures and the Boar’s Head deli recall negatively affected comparable sales in the US by about $70 million in the third quarter.