Nintendo makes some of the best games on the market today. Actually, let’s take that further and really be honest with ourselves. Nintendo has made some of the greatest games of all time and that’s an undeniable fact.
Yet while their software is largely exceptional and their hardware has been, for the most part, fantastic Nintendo hasn’t opened their eyes to the realities of the modern age. What I’m trying to say is that Nintendo’s internet services are absolute garbage. Shoddy online connectivity, poor implementation with games and a subscription service that offers very little for the price, the internet has not been an easy beast for Nintendo to tame, especially not with all these hackers running around the place.
Back in April, Nintendo admitted that their Nintendo Network ID (NNID) had been hacked and the personal details for roughly 160,000 accounts were exposed to the internet. Unfortunately, it looks like Nintendo might have bluffed about the severity of the hack because it’s now released a statement that the actual number of affected accounts was closer to 300,000. That’s a pretty massive mistake to make in your calculations, folks.
The NNID system was used for Nintendo’s older consoles, namely the WiiU and 3DS, but these accounts could be linked to user’s current Nintendo accounts on the Switch. An NNID can provide a hacker with information on a user’s email, date of birth and nickname. Not that a nickname can really be used to do much but it’s a personal nugget of information nonetheless. Hackers could also spend money on the Nintendo eShop using virtual funds or PayPal so that might be a little more damaging to your wallet.
Nintendo responded to the data breach by removing the option that allowed Switch users to log into their accounts using their old NNID information. It’s also recommended that all users implement two-factor authentication and will be sending password reset emails to all of the 300,000 users affected by the hack.
(Source: The Verge)
