Nintendo has announced a total of 300,000 accounts were recently hacked. Back in April, the company reported 160,000 accounts were hacked after users Nintendo Network IDs were used without permission, but this week, the company stated that the actual number of accounts was almost double that, CNN reported.
The confirmation statement does say (machine translated from the original Japanese) that Nintendo will “strive to further strengthen security and ensure safety so that similar events do not occur.”
Company officials discovered the hacking actually affected 300,000 accounts as it continued to investigate the security breach, but claimed few accounts that were attacked had fraudulent purchases connected to them. Affected customers either have received a refund for purchases they did not make or will get their money back soon.
Not only were hackers able to use account owners’ money to buy virtual currency for Fortnite, but they were also able to see birthdays, home area and email address, as well as access other payment services linked to the Nintendo system.
Nintendo customers were told to check their purchase histories for unauthorised transactions and request refunds.Affected users will be contacted by Nintendo via email urging them to reset their passwords. They’re also telling users to use two-factor authentication and to change their accounts from using the Nintendo Network ID to using their email instead.