Nintendo says it’s investigating reports of unauthorised account logins

Nintendo has acknowledged reports of unauthorised account logins this month and said it’s investigating the situation.

More than 50 users replied to Twitter and Resetera threads last weekend claiming to have had their Nintendo accounts illegally accessed.

Nintendo has encouraged users to activate the more secure two-form authentication feature on their accounts, as it investigates the situation.

Two-form authentication requires users to use the Google Authenticator app to verify account login attempts. Detailed instructions on how to activate the feature can be found on Nintendo’s support page.

In a statement sent to VGC, Nintendo said: “We are aware of reports of unauthorized access to some Nintendo Accounts and we are investigating the situation. In the meantime, we recommend that users enable two-step verification for their Nintendo Account as instructed here.

“If any users become aware of unauthorized activity, we encourage them to take the steps outlined at https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Support/Nintendo-Account/Nintendo-Account-Recovery-Process-1658054.html or visit https://support.nintendo.com for general support.”

Earlier this month Nintendo said it had seen an increase in unauthorised logins and that third-parties were accessing users’ credit card data.

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.”