Nintendo said on its support page that user information of about 1,60,000 accounts may have been accessed in an unauthorised manner by the hackers. The company said that login ids and passwords that were “obtained illegally by some means other than our service” were used to access the personal information of the users of “some ‘Nintendo accounts’”. The hackers impersonated the Nintendo Network ID (NNID) to perform the breach. Due to this reason, the company has announced that it is disabling the ability of users to log in to their accounts using NNID.
Revealing the impact of the breach, Nintendo said that there may have been unauthorised access to about 1,60,000 accounts. The company also said that a third-party may have viewed nickname, date of birth, country/ region, and email address.
Apart from stopping the use of NNID, Nintendo is also resetting the passwords for the accounts that may have been improperly accessed.
Instructions to customers
Nintendo also came up with several instructions to the customers. It is notifying the account users who need to reset their passwords. It advised the users to not reuse passwords used on other services on Nintendo as well. The company even asked the customers to use different passwords for NNID and Nintendo accounts. If anyone is using the same passwords, their balance and credit cards may be used for purchases on My Nintendo Store or Nintendo eShop. Users have been asked to cancel the purchases if they have been made without their knowledge.
Nintendo also asked its users to set up two-step verification to make their accounts safe and secure.
While the compromise of Nintendo accounts was revealed on Friday, there have also been reports on demand for video game going up during the ongoing lockdown. Sales of gaming hardware, software, and accessories in the US jumped 35 percent to $1.6 billion (roughly Rs. 12,200 crores) in March from a year earlier.