Nearly 160,000 Nintendo accounts compromised in massive hack

By Shubham Agarwal April 24, 2020

Sensitive details of about 160,000 Nintendo Network ID accounts have been compromised since the beginning of April, Nintendo confirmed.

The Japan-based video game company says login ID and password information of these profiles were obtained “illegally by some means other than our service” and in response, it’s freezing the ability to log into a Nintendo account through Nintendo Network ID (NNID).

Nintendo began looking into a potential breach after several players reported suspicious logins and fraudulent transactions for digital items like Fortnite VBucks through linked PayPal accounts earlier this month.

Nintendo’s investigation revealed intruders may have accessed personal data such as nicknames, dates of birth, country of residence, and email addresses.

Plus, for users who used the same password for an NNID and Nintendo account, it’s warning that their “balance and registered credit card/PayPal may be illegally used at My Nintendo Store or Nintendo eShop.”

In addition to halting Nintendo Network ID (NNID) logins, Nintendo is reaching out to affected customers via email and resetting their passwords. It’s also recommending enabling two-factor authentication to everyone. Despite this, Nintendo is asking users who have discovered fraudulent transactions in their accounts to contact the company so it can cancel the purchases and possibly for initiating refunds.

The NNID system is a legacy platform that was mainly employed for older 3DS and Wii U devices. Until Friday, gamers had the option to link the older accounts to their new Nintendo Switch accounts.

In the last month or two, Nintendo sales have skyrocketed as people across the world scramble for ways to keep themselves entertained while sheltering at home. Nintendo’s latest Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the top-selling game of March and on top of that, has become a social media phenomenon.

Gaming hardware sales themselves are up 63% from last year with the Nintendo Switch at the pole position. At 2x year-on-year growth, it was the best-selling console ever in March, beating its own March 2017 performance record. But the company’s products have also been targeted, with price-gougers sending the Switch’s price soaring on Amazon.

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Shubham Agarwal

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Shubham Agarwal is a freelance technology journalist from Ahmedabad, India. His work has previously appeared in Firstpost…

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Mario Kart Tour microtransactions land Nintendo in legal trouble

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The loot box-like style of microtransactions that used to be present in Mario Kart Tour was fairly common in a lot of games with microtransactions. That said, it has fallen out of favor in recent years thanks to increased scrutiny from regulators and lawsuits like this that argue the undisclosed odds tied to these systems are too similar to gambling. As such, microtransactions in many recent games tend to be more direct or actively disclose what players will get once they spend money.
Nintendo seemed to be aware of this when it removed Spotlight Pipes from Mario Kart Tour last year, but that clearly wasn't enough for this plaintiff. Nintendo has not commented on this lawsuit, but it's definitely worth keeping an eye on how this plays out.

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Animal Well is coming to Nintendo Switch in early 2024.
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Chants of Sennaar got a September 5 release date.
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