Albert Heijn, Etos and Gall & Gall were affected by a cybersecurity incident from Sunday 11 October. Several systems were taken offline as a precaution. Websites, apps and customer service became unavailable, while logistics systems for online orders were also temporarily disabled.
The distribution centres were restarted in a controlled manner. Regular store deliveries had resumed by 15 October, and the website and Mijn AH app were available again on 18 October. Online groceries remained affected for longer: orders through 22 October were cancelled, with delivery due to resume gradually afterwards.
Albert Heijn said on 18 October that there were no indications that personal data was involved; the investigation was still ongoing. The company did warn about phishing and chose a staged restart of systems to limit further risks.
The incident shows how closely webshop, order processing, distribution centres, delivery, customer service and loyalty programmes are technically connected. A recovery plan should therefore cover not only IT systems, but also the order in which operational processes can safely return.