Food Lion’s Website and App Went Down in a Cybersecurity Incident. What Shoppers Should Know
If you opened the Food Lion app recently to clip a coupon and nothing loaded, your phone wasn’t the problem.
The trouble started at Food Lion’s parent company.
Here’s what North Carolinians should know after Food Lion’s website and app went down in a cybersecurity incident.
What Happened
Food Lion’s website and app went offline after its parent company, Ahold Delhaize, reported a security issue within its network.
Ahold Delhaize announced the problem on Monday, Oct. 12, and said it had taken some systems offline as a precaution.
The release said teams were taking steps to assess and mitigate the issue.
TheStreet reported that the company detected the incident on Sunday, Oct. 11, a day before the announcement.
An update dated Oct. 13 (the page was last updated Oct. 14) said teams were working to restore the affected systems safely and were starting a controlled relaunch of certain systems.
If you landed on a notice instead of your account, you saw the effect of those precautions.
Who Was Affected
Food Lion was one of five U.S. banners whose websites and apps went down, Grocery Dive reported.
Fox Business named Stop & Shop and Hannaford among the others.
The update said the effects of the precautions varied by brand, so your experience at Food Lion may not have matched a shopper’s at another banner.
The company also said each local brand was working to serve its customers and minimize disruption.
What Food Lion Told Shoppers
The TV station WSET reported the Food Lion site said the website and app were unavailable and the company was working to restore service as quickly as possible.
A Food Lion spokesperson told the TV station WBTV that all stores remained open during normal business hours.
The Oct. 12 release also said Ahold Delhaize’s stores were open and serving customers.
Customers could still place delivery orders through DoorDash, Instacart or Uber Eats, and Food Lion said it would refund unfulfilled orders placed through FoodLion.com or the app.
TheStreet pointed out that those delivery apps charge separate delivery and service fees.
If you had an order in that spot, check your card or bank statement for the refund, and keep your confirmation until it shows up.
Psst! How much do you know about grocery coupons and staying safe online? Take our quiz and see how many you can get right.
Quiz
Coupon Safety Smarts
Answer these questions on grocery coupons and staying safe online. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says you can forward a phishing text message to which number?
Pharmacy and Prescriptions
Grocery Dive reported that if you had a prescription question, you were told to contact your local pharmacy.
It added that stores and pharmacies were operating under normal business hours.
Coupons Without the App
The TV station WBTV reported that customers could still get additional coupons and offers through in-store kiosks.
TheStreet warned that if you switched to a delivery app, you might lose the store's digital coupons.
How the Outage Played Out
Ahold Delhaize's Oct. 13 update added that the investigation was ongoing and that the company was holding back some details to protect security measures.
It also said the company was working with relevant internal teams and external cybersecurity experts.
The company apologized for any inconvenience to customers and partners and called protecting its infrastructure a top priority.
If you tried the site on the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 14, it was still unavailable, Grocery Dive reported, along with the Giant Food and The Giant Company sites.
The next day, TheStreet reported that Ahold Delhaize had not said when service would fully return.
Stop & Shop president Roger Wheeler said in an Oct. 16 statement that his team was working around the clock to resolve the issue.
Checking Your Orders and Accounts
Fox News' CyberGuy column advised shoppers to save confirmation emails and keep any receipts.
It also suggested keeping your receipt if you believe you were overcharged.
The column recommended turning on transaction alerts through your bank or credit card provider.
It added that you should enable two-factor authentication if your grocery account supports it.
Watching for Scam Messages
For Food Lion shoppers, one big question was whether any data was taken.
Ahold Delhaize's update said the company had no evidence at that moment that customer, associate or partner data was taken.
The investigation was still ongoing, so that line reflected what the company knew when the page was last updated Oct. 14.
Stop & Shop's president repeated that point in his Oct. 16 statement, saying there was no evidence at that time that customer data had been affected.
The CyberGuy column also warned against clicking unexpected refund links and advised being suspicious of unexpected security alerts.
If a message claims to be from Food Lion, the FTC says to contact the company directly.
Use a phone number or website you know is real, not the one in the message.
The FTC also says links and attachments in phishing messages might install harmful malware.
Psst! How ready are you for the next time a store's app goes down? Run through this checklist and see where you stand.
Where the Updates Live
You could follow Ahold Delhaize's statements in its newsroom, starting with the Oct. 12 release.
In the Oct. 13 update, the company said it would provide further updates when appropriate.
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