By the end of April, hackers had managed to connect to 160,000 customer accounts. The toll has even increased, since the Japanese pioneer of video games has revealed that 140,000 other accounts have been hacked. Nintendo is not aware of how this could have happened. By hacking these accounts, hackers gained access to players' personal information, such as email address, date of birth or banking data (if they were linked to the account). Fortunately, they could not extract them. However, only people who had linked a payment method to their Nintendo Account may have been victims of unauthorized purchases. According to the firm, less than 1% of the 300,000 accounts have experienced fraudulent purchases in recent months. The Japanese company assures that most users have already received refunds. Nintendo advises users to enable two-factor authentication on their account.
You can help secure your Nintendo Account by enabling 2-Step Verification.
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— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) April 9, 2020
Nintendo is doing everything to stop it
"We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and concern caused to those affected. We will strive to improve safety to ensure this does not happen again," the company said in its statement.
It seems that cybercriminals have broken into the Nintendo Network ID system. This system allows players to manage their accounts for older Wii U and 3DS consoles, to reach Nintendo Accounts, the system players use to make purchases from the group's online store. At present, no one knows how these hackers managed to break into certain accounts. It would seem, however, that these hackers did this "by means independent of Nintendo's services". It would therefore be individual breaches, with players who would have secured their account in a lax way with a password too simple in particular. It is hoped that Nintendo will be able to shed light on this case and that the group will communicate transparently on the reasons for these malfunctions. Read also: Nintendo sues the pirates of the Switch!
