It’s a crazy time right now, and it can be really tough to find a Switch if you don’t have one already. As it turns out, it can also be tough to keep your current Switch secure.
As of this past week, several folks have been reporting unauthorized access to their Switch accounts. Eurogamer reports that one of their staff members have been impacted, and I can confirm that a Destructoid staff member has received an unauthorized login as well.
As usual, it’s recommended that you do not attach a saved payment method to your account (some users reported that they had money stolen during the aforementioned logins, with lots of activity centering around Fortnite), and enable 2-factor authentication. If you’re not familiar with the concept, 2-factor authentication is essentially a second way to ensure secure logins, typically via SMS text (Nintendo uses Google Authenticator presently). I also recommend that you log into your Switch account online and select the option to log off every device as soon as possible just in case.
Without confirming a potential data breach or specifically mentioning the increase in account hacks, Nintendo nonchalantly reminded Switch users to enable 2-step verification earlier this month. You can find those instructions here and below. Do it! Even folks with unique and complex passwords are reporting unauthorized logins.
Source: Destructoid Enable two-factor authentication for your Switch account now