Nintendo says hacks on customer accounts affected nearly DOUBLE the amount of people previously reported
- Nintendo says that 300,000 customers were affected in the breach
- That figure is almost double the number previously reported in April
- The company has contacted customers impacted by the discovery
- Passwords for affected accounts have been reset automatically
A wave of hacks affecting Nintendo customers affected double the number of users previously reported, the game giant has confirmed.
According to the company, an investigation of the breach has confirmed that 300,000 user accounts were accessed as opposed to the 160,000 noted in April.
Nintendo says that it has contacted owners of newly discovered accounts and has rest their passwords automatically.
Nintendo says 300,000 customers were affected by breaches to Nintendo accounts that exposed personal information and led to unauthorized purchases
As was the case with the previous breaches, Nintendo says that affected customers’ nickname, date of birth, country/region, and email address may have been viewed by third-parties.
It didn’t offer any further details on exactly how the accounts were accessed and noted that only customers who had accounts linked to NNID – which are Nintendo logins used on older Nintendo consoles and handhelds – were affected.
Nintendo has also warned customers who may be using the same passwords for NNID logins to change their credentials.
Nintendo has been encouraging users to enable two-factor authentication as a result of the breaches, taking to social media over the last two months.
In April, the company says that the account passwords were ‘obtained illegally by some means other than our service’ and were used to access accounts and make fraudulent purchases.
The acknowledgement of account compromises came after a report from VGC that Nintendo was investigating reports from users who say their accounts had been accessed by an unauthorized third party.
Some of those users say purchases of up to $100 were made using the cards linked to their accounts.
Similar issues were reported by customers in Japan with Nintendo confirming an increase in the number of user inquiries relating to credit card fraud, according to a report from Nintendo Life.