Nintendo Accounts Hacked with Some Used to Make Unauthorized Purchases on Nintendo Stores
About 160,000 Nintendo accounts were hacked according to a notice posted on the company’s website. Nintendo confirms that login IDs and passwords were compromised and that there were illegal logins to some Nintendo accounts via Nintendo Network IDs (NNID). There have been increasing reports of compromised Nintendo online accounts in North America, Asia, and South America and the company reports the breach begin in the beginning of April.
If you use the same password for your NNID and Nintendo account, your balance and registered payment card or PayPal may have been used at My Nintendo Store or Nintendo eShop for unauthorized purchases. Users should check their accounts for fraud.
NNID Information That May Have Been Viewed by Hackers
• Nickname
• Birthdate
• Country / region
• email address
Payment card information was not compromised. Although there may be unauthorized purchases using your credit card or PayPal.
If a Nintendo account was not protected with two-factor authentication (2FA), the hackers may have also accessed the following information registered in your Nintendo account:
• Nickname
• Birthdate
• Gender
• Country / region
• email address
To mitigate the Nintendo account compromise, Nintendo removed the ability to log into any Nintendo Account using a NNID. Customers impacted by the account compromise were notified by e-mail to the NNID and Nintendo account. Nintendo customers should reset their passwords.
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The hacked NNIDs were used for 3DS and Wii U devices. Nintendo Switch uses a newer Nintendo Account system. The new system is no longer linked to the older NNIDs as of today.
Nintendo Account Hacked – What Should I Do?
- Reset All NIntendo Passwords
- Set up two-factor verification (2FA)
- Use strong, hard-to-guess passwords
- Use different passwords for Your NNID and Nintendo account
If you need help creating or remembering challenging passwords to keep hackers out, we recommend using Password Keeper. These hackers know your email address so you might need more protection. Try McAfee. It has a password protection and blocks phishing emails and removes malware from your computer.
What is Nintendo?
Nintendo makes popular gaming consoles like the popular Nintendo Switch, Wii, Gameboy, GameCube, and Nintendo DS. Popular tiles include Animal Crossing, The Legend of Zelda, Minecraft, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Pokémon
Nintendo Co., Ltd. is a global consumer electronics and video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. Nintendo makes popular gaming consoles like the popular Nintendo Switch, Wii, and Nintendo DS. Popular titles include Animal Crossing, The Legend of Zelda, Minecraft, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Pokémon
The company is a direct competitor of Tencent.
Michelle writes about cyber security, data privacy focusing on social media privacy as well as how to protect your IoT devices. She has worked in internet technology for over 20 years and owns METRONY, LLC. Michelle earned a B.S. in Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Michelle published a guide to Cyber Security for Business Travelers
