Nintendo confirms as many as 160k accounts may have been accessed

Nintendo has confirmed that as many as 160,000 user accounts may have been illegally accessed.

The figure comes from the company’s Japanese website, where it states that names, dates of birth, addresses and emails may have been obtained via the unauthorised logins.

The company added that individual credit card information has not been accessed. However, many affected users have reported having their accounts used to purchase in-game content such as Fortnite V-Bucks.

In a statement published on its English website, the company said it would soon contact users it believes had their accounts illegally accessed about resetting passwords for their Nintendo Network IDs.

Nintendo will also discontinue 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.

The company again encouraged users to enable two-step verification for their Nintendo accounts.

“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,” it said.

“If any users become aware of unauthorised activity, we encourage them to take the steps outlined in the article about the Nintendo Account recovery process.

“During the investigation, in order to deter further attempts of unauthorised sign-ins, we will not reveal more information about the methods employed to gain unauthorised access.

“We apologise for the inconvenience and concerns caused to our customers, and we will continue working hard to safeguard the security of our users’ data.”

Nintendo first said it had seen an increase in unauthorised logins earlier this month.

Video game platforms have seen a significant spike in usage in the past month after countries around the world introduced isolation measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Nintendo’s network services suffered downtime in March, likely as a result of people spending more time playing games online than usual.

According to one cybersecurity company, cybercriminals are increasingly targeting entertainment services as their popularity and demand skyrocket due to isolation.

“As people around the world are being asked to remain in their homes due to the coronavirus pandemic, many are turning to these streaming services for entertainment,” said Proofpoint cybersecurity strategist, Adenike Cosgrove.

“Attackers will likely follow this pattern and increase their theft and selling of account credentials. We recommend that consumers take a few simple steps to protect their accounts and identify and remove any unauthorised users.”