There have been rising reports of hackers targeting Nintendo Switch accounts, and in some cases using linked Paypal accounts to make expensive purchases.
Hackers have reportedly targeted gamers with and without unique passwords for their Nintendo Switch accounts.
A Nintendo spokesperson told Eurogamer: “We are aware of reports of unauthorised access to some Nintendo Accounts and we are investigating the situation.”
To avoid being hacked, Nintendo has recommended that all players set up a two-step verification for their Nintendo Account. Once this is enabled, players will need to sign in using both their password and a code that is sent to their smart device via the Google Authenticator app.
This process adds an additional layer of security that can help prevent unauthorised access to your account. However, this protective option is not yet available for child accounts (which is the case for players aged 16 and under) or supervised accounts.
To add two-step verification to your account, you will need to:
1) Go to https://accounts.nintendo.com and sign into your Nintendo Account.
2) Select “sign-in and security settings”, scroll to the “two-step verification” category and then click “edit”.
3) Click “enable two-step verification”.
4) Click “submit”, which will send a verification code to your email address. If the email address displayed on the screen is incorrect be sure to fix it under the “user information” settings.
5) Enter the verification code that was sent to your email and then select “submit”.
6) Install the Google Authenticator app on your smart device (this is a free app available on Google Play and Apple’s App store).
7) Use the Google Authenticator app to scan the QR code on your Nintendo Account screen.
8) Enter the six-digit verification code that appears on your smart device into the field on your Nintendo Account screen and click “select”.
9) A list of backup codes will appear, copy all of these codes and paste them somewhere for safekeeping. You will need these backup codes to sign in if you lose access to your Google Authenticator app (like if your smartphone breaks, for example). You will only be able to use each of these backup codes once.
10) Click “backup codes saved” and then “ok”.
