Nintendo Japan has released a statement saying that around 160,000 Nintendo Network ID (NNID) accounts have been compromised since early April. The gaming giant said that it has been investigating this based on multiple reports of suspicious logins.
For those unfamiliar, an NNID is a unique identifier made up of 6 to 16 characters designed for Nintendo Network access for the Wii U and 3DS consoles. This allowed users on both devices to access services such as Miiverse and Nintendo eShop. The Nintendo Switch, on the other hand, uses an account registered directly via the company’s website. In order to link player accounts from past generation consoles and the Switch, users are allowed to bind both NNID and Nintendo accounts.
“User IDs and passwords have been illegally obtained by some means other than our service, we’ve confirmed these occurrences happened in the beginning of April,” explained Nintendo Japan in a statement released on its support website. “Nintendo accounts have been accessed by an anomaly that is impersonating NNID characteristics.”
In light of the situation, Nintendo had decided to abolish any ability to log into a Nintendo account via NNID. The company adds that affected users will have their passwords resetted and notified by email. At the same time, Nintendo US urged users to increase their account security by setting up 2-Step Verification via their website.
If you are a Nintendo user, please make sure that your account is secure and do follow the steps provided by the company to enforce its security.
(Source: Nintendo Japan via Famitsu)
