You Should Set up 2-Step Verification for Your Nintendo Account Now
If you have a Nintendo Account, now is the time to make sure that your account is set up with two-step verification to keep it safe.
Nintendo is making 2-Step Verification optional for their accounts, but recently launched a small social media campaign encouraging users to get involved.
This weekend, several Nintendo Switch owners posted reports of third-party logins to their accounts, some of which resulted in loss of funds, Nintendo Life reported . Nintendo also recently issued a warning to account holders in Japan, citing an increase in credit card fraud through Nintendo Accounts.
At the end of March, someone in Thailand contacted my account. While I was luckily able to catch it and change my password before any damage was done, my secure password was clearly not secure enough and I’m confused that I didn’t have a two-step setup prior to this unauthorized login.
To set up two-step verification for your account, go to the Nintendo website and sign in to your account.
After that go to Login & Security Settings, then go to Two-Step Verification and click Edit.
While some services use your phone number for two-step services, Nintendo only allows two-step verification via the Authenticator app.
When you click Set Up Two-Step Verification on Nintendo’s website, you will be sent an email with instructions on how to complete the verification process using Google Authenticator, which should also work with whatever third-party app you prefer .
As part of this process, you will be given several codes to use as a backup if you need to access your account and do not have the app at hand. Make sure you store them in a safe place where you can find them when needed.
Two-Step Verification will make it a little harder for you to log into your Nintendo Account in the future, but it will make it much more difficult for potential attackers.