The Japanese pioneer of Nintendo video games now estimates that 300,000 customer accounts worldwide have been affected by hackings since the beginning of April, a figure almost doubled compared to its first estimate in late April.
At the time, the group previously reported that 160,000 accounts had been hacked. He said in a statement on Tuesday that he had discovered that 140,000 additional accounts were also affected.
Among the information that could have been fraudulently recovered, Nintendo cites the dates of birth and email addresses of customers, but ensures that the bank details are not affected. Cybercriminals have entered the Nintendo Network ID system, which allows players to manage their accounts for the old Wii U and Nintendo 3DS consoles, to reach Nintendo Accounts, the system used by players to shop online. of the group.
No stock market impact
Fraudulent purchases could have been made, but they would represent a tiny portion of the transactions, according to the group, saying they have already started to reimburse the victims. “We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and concern caused to the people concerned. We will strive to improve security to ensure that it does not happen again, “Nintendo said in its release.
The increased scope of these hacks weighed little on Nintendo’s share price on Wednesday: around 2:00 GMT, its title climbed 0.68% to 45,510 yen, doing better than the star index Nikkei (+ 0.13% at the same time).
The group comes out of an excellent financial year 2019/20, with a turnover increasing by 9% and a net profit which soared by 33.3% thanks to the success of its Switch console and the good performance of the games associated. Launched in March, its title “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” broke sales records, driven by demand from players confined by the coronavirus pandemic.
