Nintendo is latest victim of hacking attack

Nintendo execs will be angry that a hacking attack has occured days before the major Wii 2 announcement at E3 2011
Nintendo execs will be angry that a hacking attack has occurred days before the major Wii 2 announcement at E3 2011

Nintendo has become the latest target of online attacks by hackers, following the recent high-profile attacks on Sony.

In news that could not have come at a worse time for Nintendo and the wider games industry, with E3 2011 kicking off this week, Nintendo execs have been quick to reassure customers that no personal or company information has been lost or stolen by hackers.

Protection of customers

Nintendo spokesman Ken Toyoda said of the latest attacks: "There were no third-party victims….But it is a fact there was some kind of possible hacking attack."

A Nintendo statement added: "The server [under attack] contained no consumer information. The protection of our customer information is our utmost priority.

"We constantly monitor our security," Nintendo's statement added.

Hacker group Lulzsec is claiming responsibility for the latest attack on Nintendo, according to its Twitter feed. Lulzsec also recently claimed to have broken into Sony Pictures Entertainment website.

"We meant no harm!"

"We recently broke into SonyPictures.com and compromised over 1 million users' personal information, including passwords, email addresses, home addresses, dates of birth and all Sony opt-in data associated with their accounts," LulzSec said in a statement.

As for the Nintendo hack, Lulzsec's Twitter feed read: "Re: Nintendo, we just got a config file and made it clear that we didn't mean any harm. Nintendo had already fixed it anyway.

Whether they meant any hard or not, it's still a PR nightmare, particularly due to the fact that Nintendo is finally set to unveil the details of the successor to the Wii – codenamed 'Project Café' – at its E3 press conference on Tuesday 7 June.

Via Reuters and The Guardian

Adam Hartley