Nintendo confirms about 160,000 accounts illegally accessed through Nintendo Network IDs

Nintendo has followed up on the situation regarding illegal access to Nintendo Accounts, confirming that about 160,000 accounts have been compromised.

[Hold-The-Door]

Daaaaamn. I wonder if it is the same hackers that breached N4G?

*Checks Switch for "Is this your profile? Hold-the-door.cloobxxx" messages*

[ABizzel1]

To be completely honest, I'm actually surprised Nintendo hasn't been a huge target for hacking, their systems don't always have the best security, they use older hardware making it easier to hack / emulate, and their online infrastructure isn't the best.

I never thought about it, but Nintendo is a perfect target for hackers, especially the Switch even more so than the PS360.

[Army_of_Darkness]

Once Nintendo releases a new Mario or Zelda game, all will be fixed and forgotten ;-)

[Army_of_Darkness]

@shaggy

Yup...sony erased that moment out of my memory with free magical games and stuff :-D
I doubt Nintendo will do the same... But hey, Maaaaario!

[Sophisticated_Chap]

Nintendo hasn't had much in the way of "systems" to worry about. I never like to hear about this kind of stuff though.

[Imalwaysright]

Your username and this article go hand in hand.

[Sono421]

I'm glad to hear this news honestly, I was hacked not once.. but TWICE, one illegitimate sign in was in Russia, the other here in the US, it's crazy because I had crazy secure passwords and was really concerned my phone was tapped into or something (that's where I changed my password was on my phone) because I was confused how they would know it after I just changed it. So while I am glad to hear my phone is fine it is annoying to think that Nintendo could get hacked this easily, I have to wonder if the number is actually even higher if I alone was effected twice.

I will give Nintendo credit though, when a unusual sign in happens they alert you, which is how I knew this even happened, they also have the option to have your profile signed off on all signed in devices, which I did both times.

This sounds like Nintendo is lying to me.. "The breach was from sources outside our service" Well I've only ever signed into my Nintendo account on my Switch, besides when I had to change the password in the email sent to me because I was already breached, so please explain how some source outside your service got my log in info Nintendo... PLEASE do tell.

[Neonridr]

2 step verification on anything you have. Hacking that is almost beyond impossible. Honestly, Steam, Nintendo, Twitch, anything should have 2 step to be honest in this day and age.

[Sono421]

@Neon you're right, I should have had 2 step, I mean if there's anything Nintendo is absolutely terrible at is security and online, so put those 2 together and of course something like this would happen. I guess paying for online isn't helping them reduce lag OR beef up security, so what is this money going twords exactly?

Just a shame that instead of admitting fault they are trying to pass blame, i'll ask again, please Nintendo, do tell how some outside source had my log in information when the only thing I've signed my Nintendo account onto is my Switch.. Either Nintendo is giving/selling out our log in information and the people they gave it to/sold it to are the ones who were hacked.. OR Nintendo themselves were hacked. Either way I say Nintendo is at fault.

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

I honestly thought that I was the only one getting those. They all seem to be from the older accounts of users that really did used to post on this site 5-10 years ago. "hi! this is your profile? ᴡᴡᴡ.lucasruinedchildhood.cloob rgbul.ru"

[SoulWarrior]

It's portable so it's fine.

[S2Killinit]

How does that affect the problem?

[King_Noctis]

So how is being portable mean it is ok to get hacked?

[ocelot07]

I think the user is being sarcastic

[Araragifeels]

The switch itself is fine but the account is not

[AspiringProGenji]

It’s Nintendo so it’s fine

[UltraNova]

This.

[Tross]

Not if you have it connected to wifi. If it's connected to the internet it's just as hackable as any other device connected to the internet, whether it's plugged into the wall or not.

[Ricegum]

Hacking is done best on Switch, thanks to its portability.

[MadLad]

Your hate on not Sony is done best, because bias.

[mamotte]

You spelled Playstation Vita wrong

[Neonridr]

hacking on the go beats being stuck at home.. *shrug*

[Sono421]

Isn't everyone stuck at home now?... *shrug*

[Neonridr]

@Sono421 - it was a joke my man..

[Futureshark]

I would bet most of them are from China, regarding the 'Free Hong Kong' use of Animal Crossing that was going on before the game was banned there.

[S2Killinit]

Not sure, but wouldn’t put it past that government.

[OMGitzThatGuy]

Majority I have seen, including mine, were accessed from Russia.

[Segata]

When they got into mine it said from Russia. I changed my password and turned on 2 step.

[Bladesfist]

It happened to me, my password was a random string of 21 characters and I changed it to another random string and the attacker got in again.

[jaymacx]

How did you know they got you?

[Bladesfist]

I got a recent login from a new device email to say someone had logged in from Russia, both times.

[jaymacx]

Thanks for the info. I appreciate it.

[Ilovetheps5]

At that point, I'd be curious if they are in your email as well or something. Either way, I would set up the 2-factor authentication for your account.

[Bladesfist]

Yer I was worried my machine or something was compromised but nothing else has been affected and more people in my exact position (random passwords) were complaining on twitter so it looked like a Nintendo security issue to me.

[Sono421]

Pretty sure it's a Nintendo security issue. I was also worried that my phone may have been tapped into somehow, but after hearing how widespread this is, it does sound like Nintendo are the ones at fault.

[Sono421]

Same! I mean mine wasn't a random string but i was also hacked twice, but only one time was in Russia, the second time was in the US, both times on FireFox though. Maybe the second time they used a VPN to try to trick it into not flagging me?

[Neonridr]

2 step. They aren't hacking a text message you get sent to your phone. Unless your passwords consist of 12345 or something like that.

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

If you have your card details on your Nintendo A/C, then it might be a good idea to request a card replacement from your bank for security or to at least block certain payments from coming out.

[Cobra951]

Has nothing to do with passwords. Apparently, the vulnerability is the Nintendo Network ID, that carried over from previous systems. So Nintendo just shut down all access. You can no longer log in using an NNID.

See this Reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Ni...

[Segata]

Turn on 2 step

[Neonridr]

then I would suggest 2 step verification.

[Games1st]

Passwords aren't good enough anymore. This can happen to anyone on console or pc. Remove financial information, PayPal, card and use two factor.

[execution17]

That's the main reason why I only use gift cards and nothing else

[King_Noctis]

My Visa card was just hacked a few days ago, and the hacker used it to buy a $60 Steam game. Thankfully, Steam agreed to give me refund.

This just goes to show nothing is safe anymore when it comes to online payment.

[Cobra951]

Not anyone, not in this case, which is very specific to Nintendo. These attacks were made through the Nintendo Network IDs. Those no longer work to log in, at least for now. Nintendo shut down access to logins through NNIDs while they investigate how it all happened.

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/...

[Neonridr]

the OP is just saying that everyone should be using 2FA nowadays. On ALL your accounts.

[gold_drake]

was just a matter of time tbh. their hardware doesnt have the best security. pissed tho.

[strayanalog]

My account got "illegally accessed," but the hacker got me a bigger friend list so I got that going for me, which is nice. If the digital intruder only told me that he wanted access to my account to find something of value I would have helped him look, but alas, no card info.

[REALAS]

That's ok. It's only 20 bucks.

[franwex]

I got hacked too.

But I’m not sure what a hacker wants with my Nintendo account. Personal info? Animal crossing that can only be played on their switch?

Nintendo needs to strengthen controls.

[Veneno]

That's the thing with a lot of hackers. They have this drive to breach on systems but no actual use for it. Just to say they did it. I personally know some hackers and they don't steal information they just want to be badasses at hacking.

[Bleucrunch]

Is it really surprising for a company who has the lest than stellar history with regard to online and online play gets their system breached??? Come on now....I am surprised its not done more. What a joke...

[Neonridr]

didn't Playstation have a massive breach before?

[Bleucrunch]

yep they did, what is your point? I believe this article is about Nintendo.

[Neonridr]

@Bleucrunch - the point is that it can happen to anyone.

[SegaSaturn669]

This is old news now. Nintendo took forever to even announce this. Luckily independent news picked it up asap.

[Pyrofire95]

My account was compromised in this, I changed my password twice, as it happened twice in about a day. Then I turned on 2 step authentication and have been good since.

[Neonridr]

Seriously people. Anyone who isn't using 2 step verification in this day and age on ALL your accounts are just asking for trouble. I am willing to wager that plenty of people on here use the same password for multiple accounts. Just be safe, add the extra step. It's not hard and it will save you a crap ton of headaches.

[Knushwood Butt]

This isn't Nintendo's fault, it's the fault of the users that didn't use 2FA !!

[Neonridr]

nobody is saying that these companies that get hacked aren't partly to blame. But you can do yourself a great service by enabling these things. I lost my Twitch account for a while as someone went in and changed the email address associated with my account. I was able to get it back and then enabled 2 step which links to my phone. I do that with a bunch of my accounts now, as a precaution.