On April 24th, we posted that Nintendo had suffered a data breach, affecting 160k users. Today Nintendo has updated that information an more users have been found to have had their data breached. Today’s post will go over the updated details from Nintendo.More News On Nintendo Breach (June 9th) 
Today’s announcement is that after additional investigation more users have been found to be compromised.
Originally Approx 160k Nintendo Accounts Compromised
Per the original post by Nintendo, access to the accounts happened via the legacy Nintendo Network ID, also known as the NNID. The NNID was a popular way of logging into the in the days of the Wii U and the 3DS. So what is the difference between the older NNID and the current Nintendo Account?
- The short answer is that an NNID is used to make purchases on the Wii U and 3DS, while a Nintendo Account is used to make purchases on the Switch. The main reason to have linked your NNID with your Nintendo Account is to merge your eShop funds.
So Nintendo announced in their post
Therefore, we are announcing today that we have abolished the function of logging in to a Nintendo account via NNID .
In addition, passwords will be reset sequentially for NNIDs and Nintendo accounts that may have been illegally logged in.
Nintendo stated that the break appears to have started in early April 2020 and that if you used the same password for both the Nintendo Account and the NNID, that it is possible that your balance and registered credit card / PayPal may be illegally used at My Nintendo Store or Nintendo eShop. In addition, whoever accessed the accounts illegally may have also viewed your Nickname, date of birth, country/region, email address. Someone having that information could make you the target of phishing attacks in the future.
June 9th Updated Information – Additional Users Compromised.
According to the updated info posted today on the Nintendo of Japan site
“We posted a report on unauthorized login on April 24th, but as a result of continuing the investigation after that, there were approximately 140,000 additional NNIDs that may have been accessed maliciously. It turned out that it was. We have also reset the passwords for these 140,000 NNIDs and the Nintendo accounts that were linked with them, and contacted the customer separately. At the same time, we are taking additional security measures.”
With the acknowledgement of the additional compromised accounts, that makes 300k accounts that are affected.
What Should You Do If you Have Both Nintendo Accounts
- The first thing you will need to do is change your passwords, and make sure you DON’T use the same password for both accounts. Those with suspected compromised accounts will be notified by Nintendo, but even if you are not notified, if you share the same password on the 2 accounts you should change it now.
For NNID Accounts Change Password
- Access the Nintendo Network ID Settings.
- Select Password Settings.
- Select from the following options:
- Change Password: Update the password associated to your Nintendo Network ID.
- Save Password: Choose whether or not the password is required to access the user account on the system.
- I Forgot: Request a temporary password be sent to the e-mail address associated to the account.
For Nintendo Account Change Password
- Go to the Nintendo Account website and sign in to your Nintendo Account.
- Select Sign-in and security settings, and then select Edit in the Change Password section.
- Enter your current password, then select OK.
- Enter and confirm a new password.
- Passwords must be at least 8 characters long.
- Passwords must include a combination of characters from 2 of the following categories: letters, numbers, and punctuation.
- Click Submit to update the password.
Final Thought
The first thing you can do to protect yourself is change your passwords. If you use the same user name and password for other sites outside of Nintendo, it is a good idea to change those site passwords as well. In addition, to take an extra step to secure your Nintendo account, you can follow the information on How To: Adding 2FA to Nintendo that will show you how to add 2 factor authentication to your account.
Source(s)
- Nintendo – Nintendo Breach Info
- TGM – How to: Adding 2FA to Nintendo
More News On Nintendo Breach (June 9th)
