Giant confirms cybersecurity issue that took down its website

The Giant Company confirmed Monday a cybersecurity issue led it to temporarily take down its website.

Giant spokeswoman Ashley Flower said, “Our teams are taking steps to assess and mitigate the issue, which includes proactively taking some systems offline to help protect them.”

Earlier on Monday, Giant’s parent company, Ahold Delhaize, issued a statement the incident.

The company said, “Protecting our infrastructure in the best interest of our customers, associates and partners is a top priority. We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused customers and partners.”

Ahold’s other brands, including Food Lion, Giant Food, Hannaford and Stop & Shop, were also impacted.

Flower said Giant’s stores remain open, and noted some e-commerce operations have been affected.

“We are working as quickly as possible to restore these systems. We apologize for any inconvenience to our customers and appreciate their patience during this time,” she said.

A message on Giant’s website Monday read, “We’re working hard to correct a technical issue. Please check back later.”

The full scope of the incident remains unknown.

It is also unclear whether it is related to a separate incident reported at French supermarkets , where hackers reportedly forced the temperature of refrigerators to go up to 50 degrees at several hundred stores, according to GVWire.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said a “large-scale” attack was “affecting connected refrigerators in several major food retailers across France. Reported damage included food losses and fires.

Two years ago, Ahold Delhaize USA Services LLC, which provides support services to Ahold Delhaize USA companies, detected a cyberattack.

The incident exposed personal information of 2.2 million individuals, prompting the company to offer two years of complimentary credit monitoring and identity protection services, according to Progressive Grocer, a grocery industry publication.