Nintendo confirms up to 160,000 user accounts have been hacked

After reports have circulated for days, Nintendo has confirmed that up to 160,000 Nintendo Accounts were compromised as part of a hack that occurred earlier this month.

According to the company, the attackers gained access to Nintendo Accounts by logging in through Nintendo Network IDs. NNID's were used for the 3DS and Wii U and could be synced with newer Nintendo Accounts. Once inside, the hackers could have viewed a user's name, date of birth, gender, country / region, and email address. And if the passwords for a user's NNID and Nintendo Account were the same, they also may have been able to make purchases through the My Nintendo Store or Nintendo eShop.

Nintendo has now disabled the ability to log into Accounts using an NNID.

If you were hacked, your password's been reset — The good news is that you don't need to play the guessing game. If your account was compromised, Nintendo has automatically reset your password. And even if you were spared this time around, the company recommends all users enable two-factor authentication — an absolute no-brainer if you care about the integrity of your personal information.

To do this, head to "sign-in and security settings" inside your Nintendo Account and click "enable two-factor authentication." You'll then need to set up Google Authenticator to receive verification codes, which you'll plug in back at Nintendo. Finally, you'll be given backup codes in case you lose access to your account.

Apparently the hackers love Fornite — In many cases, the affected accounts were used specifically to make purchases in Fortnite, as reported by ZDNet.

Somehow the idea of your information being stolen to purchase the Milly Rock makes the whole thing feel even worse. Add in the recent coronavirus-related price gouging on Nintendo Switches lately, and it's a rough time to either own the console or want one.