Nintendo Accounts See Rise In Unauthorized Logins Since Early April And Suggest Additional Security Steps

Nintendo Accounts See Rise In Unauthorized Logins Since Early April And Suggest Additional Security Steps
Credit: Nintendo Official Website

Earlier this month, Nintendo Japan announced that some users saw unauthorized logins. Those who illegally logged into the accounts were using the accounts to make fraudulent purchases. The uprise of unauthorized logins may have been caused b the increase of Nintendo usage since many are under stay-at-home orders.

The issue hasn’t only affected Japan. Players across the globe have seen unauthorized logins. In the past few weeks, players have reported seeing unauthorized logins. These users were using the Nintendo accounts to purchase Fortnite currency.

Nintendo Japan recently posted an update about the situation on its support website. Nintendo Japan stated that these logins were obtained outside of the service. The number of affected accounts is around 160,000.

Nintendo accounts are necessary to use the Nintendo Switch Online and the My Nintendo store. Some players already had accounts from the WiiU and 3DS, which used a Network ID. These accounts can be linked, and those who are using multiple Nintendo services in Japan were seeing an increase in attacks.

This issue was especially the case for those who weren’t protecting their accounts with two-factor authentications or using the same information, like email and passwords, for both services. Some users may have used the same account information for linked payment accounts, such as PayPal.

Nintendo of Europe and the UK also posted a message taking another step into stopping unauthorized logins.

The notice on the Nintendo UK website adds: “While we continue to investigate, we would like to reassure users that there is currently no evidence pointing towards a breach of Nintendo’s databases, servers or services. As one action in our ongoing investigation, we are discontinuing the ability to use a Nintendo Network ID to sign in to a Nintendo Account. All other options to sign-in to a Nintendo Account remain available.”

Nintendo suggests resetting account passwords through “Forgot Password” and creating a unique password for the account.

Players can also set up two-step verification (2FA) through their Nintendo account. Setting up the second security layer is vital for any account used online. This is done through the security settings on the Nintendo account webpage. Players should also set up email notifications on when the account has been logged into from an unusual device.

If there are any unusual purchases on the Nintendo account related to unauthorized logins, players should report it to Nintendo. The company states they will investigate and cancel any unauthorized purchases.

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